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DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


* 





* 









DYNAMIC 

AMERICANISM 


<By 


ARNOLD BENNETT HALL 

ll 


Department of Political Science, 
University of Wisconsin 


m 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright 1920 
The Bobbs-Merrill Company 



Printed in the United States of America 



U 



Cl. A 6 0 4118 



PRESS OP 

BRAUNWORTH ft GO. 
BOOK MANUFACTURER* 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 




TO THE MEMORY OF 

THEODOSIA PARKS HALI* 








PREFACE 

The author believes that Americanism implies an adequate 
understanding of the ideals and aspirations of Amer¬ 
ican democracy, a profound conviction as to their funda¬ 
mental worth, and, above all, a deep sense of personal ac¬ 
countability for their development and defense. The great 
war afforded a dramatic demonstration of the utility and 
power of organized patriotic sentiment. For it was under 
its driving impulse that the people of America gloriously 
accepted the burdens and sacrifice of war. 

It is significant, however, that we do not always find the 
same degree of chivalry, devotion and self-sacrifice evi¬ 
denced in our domestic conflicts. The reason is that our pa¬ 
triotic education has been too much restricted to the ex¬ 
ploits of the battle-field and the achievement of martial 
glory. But the creation of patriotic sentiment need not be so 
confined. The instinctive and emotional life of the nation 
can be just as effectively mobilized around the tragic prob¬ 
lems of domestic controversy and translated into construc¬ 
tive acts of social and political achievement, if we only will. 
An analysis of the vital problems of domestic life, in terms 
of the dramatic human interests that are at stake, will create 
a profound emotional response, which can be molded into a 
patriotic sentiment as dynamic in peace as it has been pow¬ 
erful in war. 

The purpose of the present volume has been to suggest 
ways and means by which the study and observation of 
American government, life and politics, whether in the local 


Preface —Continued 


community or the nation's capital, may be made the basis 
for the development of such a sentiment of dynamic Amer¬ 
icanism. This involves less emphasis upon political forms 
and more attention to the needs and functions of govern¬ 
ment and the dynamic forces of human nature that function 
through it. If the legal skeleton of civics is thus clothed 
with the flesh and blood of human interest, it loses the mo¬ 
notonous drone of chronological detail and takes on the 
gripping interest of the drama. 

The critical reader may complain of the “damnable reiter¬ 
ation" and the use of superfluous illustrations. There is no 
justification for the former other than the author's zeal to 
carry conviction to the reader. In the abundant use of illus¬ 
trative material, the writer has sought to practise what he 
preached, and to make his theories vivid by expressing them 
in terms of modern life. It is to be hoped that this material 
will be found of special value and significance to many 
readers. 

In the bibliography at the end of each chapter are found 
only those references which would seem to be most useful 
in connection with the topics therein treated. Throughout 
the preparation of the work and particularly in selecting the 
bibliography, the author has received the generous and valu¬ 
able assistance of his wife. 


Arnold Bennett Hall. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I Introduction—The Need for Constructive Patriotism 1 

II How May Constructive Patriotism Be Developed . 20 

III The Intellectual Basis for Constructive Patriotism 44 


IV The Origin and Development of Government ... 68 

V The Functional Approach. 97 

VI The Story of the Community. 131 

VII Rural Life and Government. 161 

VIII City Life and Government. 192 

IX Functions and Government of the State .... 220 

X Federal Functions and Government. 247 

XI Functions and Organization of Political Parties . 280 
XII The Bulwark of Democracy.312 













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DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 

















Dynamic Americanism 


CHAPTER I 


INTRODUCTION-THE NEED FOR CONSTRUCTIVE PATRIOTISM 

J ELECTION was pending in a city of the Middle 



West. Public interest was at fever heat. The lines of 


battle seemed sharply drawn. The issues were cleanly cut. 
It was a conflict between the forces of righteousness and ini¬ 
quity. The candidates of the opposing ranks personified 
their respective forces, one appealing directly to the ideal¬ 
ism and intelligence of the public, the other to its prejudice 
and cupidity. One promised the fearless and able enforce¬ 
ment of the law; the other pledged a lawless and wide-open 
town. The records of the candidates were such as to afford 
sufficient evidence of their good faith. On the one side were 
marshaled those citizens who were ready to fight in defense 
of public decency and civic honor; opposed to them were 
gathered the forces of evil and corruption. The white- 
slaver, the vice king, the gambler, the crook and the bood- 
ler, all seeking freedom from legal restraint in their perni¬ 
cious callings, rallied their forces to the conflict, spent their 
money with prodigality and worked with unceasing toil. 

Election day found both parties prepared and confident. 
Every possible precaution had been taken to prevent cor¬ 
ruption and fraud. Detectives had been employed in scores 
to safeguard the ballot. For the first time in years a cam¬ 
paign had been forced along lines that would divide the 
sheep from the goats. It was a fair fight between good and 


1 


2 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


evil. There was no confusion of issues. It was honesty 
pitted against dishonesty, the law against the white-slaver, 
the public conscience against commercialized vice, public 
health against public disease, public morality against public 
immorality, public welfare against the public enemy. Patri¬ 
otic citizens were elated with the coming triumph. At last 
the day had come. The people were on trial. Democracy 
would be vindicated. 

A group of faithful citizens was gathered in a down¬ 
town room to hear the election news. The results never were 
in doubt from the first returns. Little by little the lead of 
their enemy increased until his victory was acknowledged 
by a comfortable majority. The little band broke up, disap¬ 
pointed, hopeless and dejected. The people had been tried 
and found wanting. Democracy had not been vindicated. 

Among this little group was a school-teacher who had 
fought hard in the campaign. He had entered the contest 
with enthusiasm, for he saw an opportunity to try out the 
reforms which he had so long taught as the hope of de¬ 
mocracy. He had taught his students in high-school history 
and civics that efficient government would come only with 
the enthronement of the people's will. He had argued with 
conviction that this would be accomplished with the advent 
of the primary and the safeguarding of the ballot. He had 
depicted the role of the political boss in scathing terms. To 
him had been ascribed the tragic horrors of the crowded 
tenements with their filth and immorality. To him had 
been charged the epidemics of preventable disease, the vir¬ 
tual licensing of crime and vice, and the general inability 
of the government to serve the human interests of the com¬ 
munity. But the primary had been used, the ballot safe¬ 
guarded, and still the boss had won. What was wrong? 
Had he been misguiding his students all these years when 
he had sought to place upon the boss the sole responsibility 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


3 


for governmental ills ? Had his dogmatic support of the new 
reforms, which he had preached with a crusader’s zeal, been 
without reason and in vain? Could it be that democracy, 
the hope of every true American, had actually been tried 
and found wanting? 

These and similar thoughts crowded upon him in quick 
succession in the days that followed. Thousands of his 
fellow citizens who had shared the same hopes and suffered 
the same disappointments mingled their wondering doubts 
with his. 

Then slowly there began to dawn a new understanding. 
As he talked with his friends and acquaintances he was 
continually astounded to find how citizens of intelligence 
and honesty had voted against reform. Some had voted for 
the winning side because they felt the importance of parti¬ 
san victory. Others voted against common decency because 
they feared that if the evils of the city were brought to 
light it would hurt its reputation, unsettle business and im¬ 
pair its prosperity. Others feared the effect on public utility 
securities, which were widely held and in which were in¬ 
vested, no doubt, some of the savings of widows and 
orphans. A group from a better residence district feared 
that under the administration pledged to abolish the “red 
light” district, its denizens might seek the residence dis¬ 
tricts of the city for their nefarious callings, thereby threat¬ 
ening the children and homes of the “better classes,” rather 
than the households of the poor. Still others had been so 
deeply absorbed in their personal affairs that they had 
neglected the opportunities afforded by the election, or 
failed to see how the whole contest was fraught with the 
gravest possibilities for good or evil to the civic and spiritual 
interests of the community. The teacher discovered that the 
second strongest organization of physicians in the city had 
refused to support reform unless its advocate would pledge 


4 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


himself not to maintain free dispensaries nor inaugurate an 
effective campaign against disease. Such methods, he was 
told, would interfere with private business. 

Amazed and disillusioned he began to realize that the 
citizens of the city did not want reform, or were too in¬ 
different to make themselves effective. He faced the fact 
that every reform that is effective must, temporarily at 
least, encroach upon some sphere of private interest. He 
found that one can not promise to regulate public utilities 
in the interest of the public, without impairing the value 
of securities held by many influential citizens, banks and 
trust companies, whose sympathy for the widow and orphan 
investors was, perchance, largely dependent upon their per¬ 
sonal holdings. The city can not clean up the tenements 
without imposing additional burdens for the time being 
upon the landlord and property owner. Public health can 
not be safeguarded without injuring the practise of physi¬ 
cians. Vice and crime can not be blotted out without taking 
away the abnormal rents landlords receive from property 
used for immoral and illegal purposes, and without threat¬ 
ening the more prosperous citizens with a portion of the in¬ 
convenience and danger to which they deliberately condemn 
the poor, who live in the segregated districts. 

This teacher also found that a great many honest and re¬ 
spectable citizens, the kind we think of as the backbone of 
the republic, could only see those aspects of politics that af¬ 
fected them. Their vision was too limited and their sympa¬ 
thies too well controlled to allow them to view the issue in its 
broadest human aspects. They were indifferent because 
they had no direct personal interest at stake. 

If these were the facts of our political life, and if these 
were the influences that controlled our elections, then his 
easy-going philosophy that the "remedy for the evils of 
democracy is more democracy” was impotent. The en- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


5 


thronement of the public will was not the only essential of 
social and civic reform. As far as he could look into the 
future, thoroughgoing reforms must always run counter, 
temporarily at least, to private interests. Opposition would 
always develop from those whose interests were threatened. 
The direct primary and the security of the ballot would 
not change these interests but only make their expression 
the more easy and effective. 

Then what should he teach his class in civics? He had 
sought sincerely to make this a class for the development 
of citizenship. He had sought to equip his pupils with the 
ideas inherent in social progress, but these ideas had proved 
unproductive of results. Should he revise his philosophy of 
politics? Was democracy impotent? Could he go before 
his pupils with sincerity and power, and continue to espouse 
a system and a theory that had proved futile, that had not 
saved the city in a contest between right and wrong, and 
that had frustrated its noblest and highest aspirations? 
Could he defend a system of government that protected 
commercialized vice and immorality, that refused to oppose 
the spread of disease, and that encouraged individual self¬ 
ishness to exploit the unhappy victims of the slums? 

This experience of an unusually conscientious and able 
teacher ought to come as a challenge to the entire pro¬ 
fession throughout the country. The conflict that awakened 
him, with its dramatic appeal, is being reproduced in lesser 
degrees in every portion of our land. There is scarcely a 
local community where needless deaths do not occur from 
preventable diseases, that would have been prevented by 
the same degree of efficiency in government that we demand 
in private enterprise. There is not a state that does not 
offer up its annual tribute of human life to industrial 
accidents and diseases that could be prevented. There is 
not a Congress that does not make wasteful appropriations 


6 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


for river and harbor bills, when like sums invested in a 
nation-wide fight on tuberculosis would produce untold 
dividends in human life and human happiness. There are 
communities all over the land where public funds are wasted 
in extravagance, if not in graft, which might be devoted to 
providing ample playgrounds and civic centers that would 
produce better citizens and higher morals. These condi¬ 
tions lead one to question the vitality of our democracy and 
to challenge our citizenship. 

Occasionally the public, aroused to a consciousness of its 
neglect, organizes a movement of relief against one ill or 
another. Some are pressed with vigor and determination 
until success is won, but many are mere abortive efforts, 
spasmodic and short-lived. Through the few that do suc¬ 
ceed progress is being made. Our political life is growing 
better but the progress is slow and the mistakes are many. 
The cost of these failures is appalling and must be borne 
by the helpless and the weak. If the milk supply is unin¬ 
spected, it brings death only to the homes of those too poor 
and ignorant to buy privately inspected milk. If housing 
conditions are unregulated, it is the unprotected children 
of the slums whose blighted lives must pay for democracy’s 
mistake. 

The teacher in the public schools to-day, whose mission is 
the training of boys and girls for participation in democracy, 
is facing greater difficulties than in any other period of our 
nation’s history. The problems of to-day that challenge 
constructive democracy are vastly different from those of 
the early days of the New World. We are prone to wor¬ 
ship the past as the great day for American democracy. 
We think of the New England town meeting as the ideal 
of democratic accomplishment. We sigh as we compare 
with it the inefficiency of the city government of to-day. 

But the comparison is unfair. It leaves out of account 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


7 


the tremendous difference in the nature of the problems 
to be solved. The New England town meeting was con¬ 
fronted with such problems as the location of a town well, 
the building of a schoolhouse or its repair, the fixing of the 
salary of the school-teacher, or the maintenance of the high¬ 
way. With the Industrial Revolution, however, came a 
new set of problems, gigantic in size and complicated in 
nature. The factory system with its dangerous machinery 
created tremendous cities out of rural communities. The 
public utilities, with their financial power and political in¬ 
trigue, menaced any government that sought to control 
them. Great trusts and monopolies, whose financial and 
political control threatened to vest them with autocratic 
power, seemed to spring up overnight. The industrial city 
came, with its problems of morals, diseases, sanitation and 
engineering projects, and challenged the deepest learning 
and the most constructive statesmanship that the nation 
could produce. In these facts the careful observer will find 
little basis for the pessimistic worship of the past, and 
ample challenge to the dynamic Americanism of the future. 

The new problems of the day demand more than the 
casual study of the patriot; they demand technical research, 
infinite patience, and a capacity for sustained, patriotic 
interest. The problems of the New England town meeting 
were not different from the problems that the pioneers were 
meeting every day in their customary callings. They were 
problems calling for the exercise of common sense and 
honest judgment. Most of them were solved by a few 
hours’ careful discussion and deliberation. Compare these 
problems with those of the present. The citizens of to-day 
are called upon to grapple with the vexing problems of 
water supply, involving tremendous engineering feats; they 
are to solve complex questions of sanitation and public 
hygiene based upon the learning of technical science; they 


8 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


have to adjust innumerable conflicts between the interests 
of the public and private enterprise in public utilities and 
public service; they must protect the health and limb of the 
employees against all manner of disease and accident with¬ 
out unduly impeding the processes of production; they must 
attack the mighty struggle between labor and capital, pro¬ 
tecting the interest of the public, with impartial justice to 
either side. 

These problems can not be solved by momentary appeals 
to patriotic fervor. They are not amenable to solution by 
the application of good judgment and common sense alone. 
They require the patient research of the scholar and the 
technical efficiency of the expert. Back of these there must 
lie the eternal vigilance of the public, whose sustained inter¬ 
est will stimulate the fidelity and efforts of its servants, 
and whose ultimate judgment upon the results achieved 
must afford a rational and enlightened system of rewards 
or punishments for official effort. The formulation of public 
opinion and its application to modern problems through the 
media of scientific experts, preserving the efficiency of the 
expert and the point of view of the public, presents one of 
the most difficult problems of constructive politics. 

On the other hand, the developing in the body politic of a 
capacity of sustained civic interest, sufficient to follow with 
unbiased zeal and discriminating judgment the slowly mov¬ 
ing methods of scientific effort, is indispensable to social 
and political reform. Experts* alone will tend to become 
bureaucratic unless closely followed by a patient though 
aggressive public, while public opinion will be impotent in 
the face of modern problems without the service of scien¬ 
tific effort. To arouse the public to a' righteous and emo¬ 
tional protest against specific ills, especially if they appear 
in a dramatic setting, is easily and quickly done. It is the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


9 


national pastime of the politician and demagogue. But the 
public interest is too easily pacified by the impossible 
promises of the skilful politician. The public interest does 
not continue until the evil has been permanently eliminated. 
It is one thing for an aroused public to retire a public 
servant from office, and another thing to keep public interest 
up to the point of watching to see that the newly elected 
officer does not make the same mistakes. It is one thing to 
protest against an unjust and inefficient system of taxation 
until it becomes a political issue upon which a party comes 
into power, but it is a vastly different thing to keep the public 
interest centered upon the new administration for a length 
of time sufficient to produce a constructive system of finance. 
Thus it becomes evident that modern problems require for 
their solution a more virile and sustained civic spirit than 
was required for the solution of the more primitive problems 
of a century ago. 

In spite of these obvious needs, popular and hysterical 
revolts still continue the order of the day. Cities will be¬ 
come outraged over the dramatic revelation of some evi¬ 
dence of graft or fraud, but will fall back into indifference 
again before the newly elected administration has entered 
into office. The periodic exposes afford accumulating evi¬ 
dence of this tragic fact. As a result progress is slow, 
scientific and progressive methods have but little chance, 
and pressing modern problems go unsolved. 

To meet this condition many plans and panaceas have 
been suggested. Most of the panaceas have been mere 
changes in the form of government. The history of the 
last eighty years has witnessed a series of blind attempts 
to solve the problems of municipal inefficiency, by changing 
from one type of government to another and finally cul¬ 
minating in the present movement for the adoption of the 


10 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


business manager form. But it has only been in the last 
portion of this period that any real progress seems to have 
been achieved. 

The direct primary has been espoused by many as the 
final bulwark against the encroachments of special privilege 
and the domination of the political boss. This has been 
given a fair hearing but the millennium has not appeared, 
while the demagogue and boss continue to exercise tre¬ 
mendous power. The initiative and referendum has been 
defended by the exponents of direct democracy, as the 
instrument through which popular government would realize 
its higher self, corruption and inefficiency be banished from 
our legislative halls, and the complicated problems of 
modem politics be adequately solved. The recall of public 
officers, we are told, would afford the people an instrument 
by which the public servant would be compelled to give an 
administration that would be wise, beneficent and effective. 

Again another group of political students has staked its 
hope of redeeming democracy upon the system of preferen¬ 
tial voting, confident in the belief that if the wants of the 
citizens may be but accurately expressed, the problems of 
government will be safely met. The short-ballot movement, 
with its attractive program for simplifying the ballot and 
concentrating official responsibility where the voter may 
more easily make his influence effective, is another remedy 
which has rallied many to its cause with its promises of 
relief from the intolerable conditions of the present. To-day 
millions of our citizens are seeking hopefully, but impotently, 
for relief through one or more of these chosen methods. 
Like the school-teacher in the Middle West, they have a 
blind unquestioning faith in the efficacy of structural re¬ 
forms. There is one thing, one great outstanding, funda¬ 
mental fact they overlook—the mere change of governmental 
forms does not change the intelligence or civic interest of 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


11 


the people who function through these forms. Every one of 
these suggested panaceas and remedies may be embodied 
in our fundamental law without necessarily solving a single 
problem, without wiping out a single evil, without bringing 
work to a single member of the army of the unemployed. 
The same problems would remain, the same conflicts in 
interest would continue, the same powerful, ingenious and 
autocratic bosses would still seek to hold the reins of 
government. It is true that new instruments will be avail¬ 
able, and in so far as they might be better adapted to the 
problems to be solved, they would be helpful; but they are 
only instruments, and back of these instruments will be 
found the same lack of civic pride, the same want of a 
constructive patriotism, the same selfish and sordid inter¬ 
ests, the same criminal indifference to the public weal, that 
have combined to produce the conditions and problems 
against which we righteously protest. 

Does this, then, mean that there is no escape from the 
evils and failures of democracy? Must we continue to 
render tribute to the forces of indifference, ignorance and 
greed ? Must we continue the annual sacrifice of life, limb 
and soul to the preventable horrors of our industrial life? 
Or does it not show the pathway along which permanent 
reform must lead ? Does it not point with dramatic vivid¬ 
ness to the social and moral education of our youth, as the 
means of democratic accomplishment? Does it not bring 
out in bold relief the fundamental fact, that in the youth of 
to-day, the citizenship of to-morrow, must be developed the 
new patriotism of civic achievement, that vital sustained 
interest in public problems, that unfailing fidelity to the 
public weal, which the gigantic, complicated and portentous 
problems of modern life so imperatively demand? 

This, then, is the challenge of modem democracy to the 
modern school. Its fundamental basis is the fact that the 


12 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


solution of modern problems requires more than the passing 
thrill of patriotic fervor, or the spasmodic protest of an out¬ 
raged public. It requires more than the mere structural 
changes that are necessary from time to time. It requires a 
regenerated citizenship. It requires a keen sense of in¬ 
dividual responsibility and a capacity for a sustained interest 
in civic matters. It requires that our process of education 
must build into the consciousness and soul of the child a 
new philosophy of life, the philosophy of service. There 
must be new ideals and aspirations aroused, strengthened 
and defined, the ideals of civic obligation. There must be 
a new morality evolved, and a new patriotism nourished, 
one that is both social and constructive. 

The bane of the popular conception of democracy is that 
it is expressed in the terms of the rights of individuals. 
The patriotic oration, the flamboyant appeals of the dema¬ 
gogue, the “rule of thumb’’ conceptions of the reformer, 
are expressed in the term of rights. One of America’s 
leading citizens has boldly declared that democracy had 
the right to make mistakes. It follows then that when 
democracy mistakenly allowed the institution of child labor 
to gain a foothold in our country, until hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of children had been sacrificed to human greed, that 
democracy had the right to exact the lives and souls of 
children as the price of its indifference and mistakes. The 
piteous appeals of suffering children have for years fallen 
upon the unhearing ears of American citizenship. Their 
shrieks have beat with tragic impotence against the bulwark 
of democratic rights. Whence came this inhuman concep¬ 
tion of democracy’s rights? Who gave into the hands of 
an indifferent people the despotic right to pay their obli¬ 
gations with the lives and suffering of others? Who re¬ 
leased the citizens of a democracy from the obligation 
of being their brother’s keeper? These are questions that 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


13 


should be thundered from every housetop until America 
is awakened, and until the pernicious doctrine of demo¬ 
cratic rights has been obliterated by the larger vision of dem¬ 
ocratic service, made possible through individual consecra¬ 
tion to the sacred duties of democracy. 

The teaching of this conception of democracy is of para¬ 
mount importance, and experience would seem to indicate 
that if it is not done in our schools it is likely to go undone. 
The young citizen who can view preventable suffering with¬ 
out a sense of personal shame, or -who can see the failures 
of our government to produce the largest possible dividends 
of human happiness without a twinge of conscience, is not 
yet morally equipped to fight the battles of aggressive, 
triumphant democracy. He lacks the necessary moral and 
spiritual equipment. It must be the mission of the school 
to supply that equipment. It must provide a sense of per¬ 
sonal accountability. It must build up a dynamic theory of 
morality. It must produce a patriotism that is virile and 
constructive. It must produce a dynamic Americanism that 
will be practical and effective. 

The influence of the schools in building moral standards 
and quickening moral perception in certain lines of thought 
and conduct, gives promise of tremendous good when di¬ 
rected to the positive morality required by the civic duty of 
to-day. But so far most moral teachings have been negative 
and personal, ignoring the positive and the social. Few 
graduates of our public school would not blush for shame 
if detected in an act of dishonesty or personal immorality, 
but these same people will idly boast of an ignorance re¬ 
garding the current issues of the ballot box and the capacity 
of candidates for public office, for whom they are asked to 
vote. It is the exceptional citizen that follows the fate 
of political issues and administrative policy from its incep¬ 
tion, through the necessary machinery of political parties. 


14 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


to its concrete realization in accomplished fact Thousands 
of citizens will deplore the inefficiency and waste of govern¬ 
ment, while only tens will study out the responsible parties 
and apply the doctrine of strict accountability. Thousands 
will rise in righteous indignation against the depredations 
and despotism of unscrupulous bosses, and yet very few will 
take the time and energy to organize effectively against 
their power. We cry out against government that is weak, 
corrupt, incompetent, and yet we are unwilling to pay the 
price of efficient government, or bear the burdens of effi¬ 
cient democracy. 

The cry for reform is always in the air, but when a 
concrete measure is suggested that casts a burden upon a 
group or class, they are too frequently unwilling to bear 
the burden. They prefer the injustice and weakness of the 
present system, whose burdens may be shifted to others. 
Thousands of these same persons would rally to the defense 
of their ideals of national honor, were it assailed by a 
foreign foe. They would sacrifice their lives if need be in 
its defense. Let a weak sister republic fail to protect the 
lives of American citizens, and thousands will be found 
willing to make any sacrifice or bear any burdens necessary 
to avenge the insult to American honor. But industry and 
disease may claim its daily toll of hundreds, through the 
inefficiency of democracy, and the public sits by in com¬ 
placent idleness. They see no blot on American honor in 
this useless sacrifice. They feel no patriotic call to fight 
against the disease, poverty and misery that follow in the 
wake of inefficient government. They have no conception 
of a nation’s honor that calls for patriotic service in the 
cause of justice, righteousness and decency at home. 

These are the conditions that confronted the school¬ 
teacher of the Middle West, as he tried to adjust himself 
to the new conditions and problems of democracy, as evi- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


15 


denced to him by the results of the city election upon 
which he had staked so much. These are the facts, un¬ 
pleasant though they be, that challenge the attention of 
America to-day. If it be said that too much is expected 
of the citizens of a democracy, that they can not be expected 
to fight for reforms that interfere incidentally with their 
personal pecuniary interest, that they can not be expected 
to give patient and careful study to public problems, the 
answer is, then, that such a people needs rulers, and not 
servants, to guide their destinies. If this be the answer, 
then it means that to America democracy is an idle shib¬ 
boleth with which the boss and demagogue may play. It 
means that the ideals and aspirations of American heroes 
whose memories we revere, the ideals and aspirations that 
sustained Washington at Valley Forge, that steeled the 
nerve and provided courage for the pioneers in their con¬ 
quest of the West, that gave to Lincoln that infinite har¬ 
mony of tenderness and strength with which to guide the 
destinies of a troubled nation—these, the most cherished 
possessions of a great people, consecrated by the toil and 
sacrifice of millions, are prostituted to a selfish individualism 
that is both sordid and sterile. 

But the American people have not lost their ideals. They 
have not lost their capacity to respond to the call of human 
need. The instincts of sympathy and the love of justice 
still smolder in every true American. Absorbed in the mighty 
task of developing a continent, blinded by the most prodigal 
prosperity any nation has enjoyed, the American people have 
been too busy to stop to count the cost. The individualistic 
philosophy that answered the needs of the pioneer, has been 
unconsciously outgrown. They have been so engrossed in 
the creation of their material wealth that they have failed to 
grasp the human problems that it presented. The appeal to 
individual ambition, as the mainspring of human action, 


16 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


had gone unquestioned. The need of a broader vision and 
a nobler ambition had not been brought home. The old 
individualistic virtues were deemed sufficient. 

The function of modern education is to show that with 
this change from a pioneer nation to an industrial state, 
there have come new problems and new demands upon the 
spiritual and moral forces of the nation. These problems 
are fraught with the gravest significance to human happi¬ 
ness. They touch human life at a myriad different points. 
They make every voter of the republic the joint guardian 
of helpless children against the evils of the slums, for the 
state must be the champion of the helpless and the op¬ 
pressed. These problems can not be ignored. Our country’s 
existence is at stake, for, in the last analysis, the strength of 
a nation depends upon its capacity to serve its citizens, 
and to advance the cause of righteousness and justice. 

When these needs are brought home to the American 
youth; when he is taught to read in the complex problems 
of the day a challenge to his manhood; when he is brought 
to realize the most treacherous foes that assail his nation 
are the forces of greed, injustice and selfish indifference; 
when he is taught that patriotism is a virtue of peace as 
well as of war; when he begins to feel the thrill of exaltation 
that comes with civic duty well performed; when he is 
brought face to face with the gigantic problems of modern 
life with their challenge to his courage, his scholarship and 
his patriotism, the American youth will not be found want¬ 
ing. The boundless energy, the inventive genius and the 
single-minded devotion which have characterized him on 
the battle-fields of Europe, in industrial conflicts and in pro¬ 
fessional effort, will be consecrated to the task of trans¬ 
lating into actual life, the ideals and aspirations of American 
democracy. 

This, then, is the task that awaits the teacher as he stands 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


17 


before his group of young Americans. They must be 
brought face to face with the realities of life. They must be 
brought to a deep appreciation of the duties of democracy. 
They must learn that the price of liberty, and justice, and 
progress is eternal vigilance. They must learn that the 
comforts of modern life have brought with them corre¬ 
sponding problems that they must solve. They must learn 
in school what the school-teacher of the Middle West 
learned through sad experience,—that the instruments of 
democracy alone do not suffice. Back of these instruments 
and back of democratic government, there must be the moral 
vision, the spirit of sacrifice, the sustained interest of the 
crusader, the valor of the soldier and the constructive pa¬ 
triotism of the statesman. If the ideals of democracy are 
to withstand the stress and strain of modern life, they must 
be founded upon a citizenship inspired with such a vision 
and animated with such a spirit. The development of this 
vision and spirit of democracy is not the work of the mo¬ 
ment to be done in time of pressing need. It is the slow and 
patient method of building into youthful thought the social 
view-point, and of guiding the dynamic instincts of the 
child into channels of socialized activity. 

A representative of the Catholic Church is reported to 
have said that if it could have charge of a child's train¬ 
ing and education until seven years of age, it would have 
no fear of the child’s wandering away from the ideals 
and teachings of the church. In a democracy should it 
not be the aim of the public school so to select its methods, 
its curriculum and its teachers, that the youth of the land 
may go from its portals without danger of being lost to the 
vision, the ideals and the aspirations of democracy ? 


18 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What was the underlying issue involved in the election in the 
city of the Middle West, described in the beginning of the chapter ? 

2. If the ballot was safeguarded and the direct primary employed 
in that city election, why was it that the side of decency suffered 
defeat ? 

3. Did the outcome of that city election prove the failure of de¬ 
mocracy? If so, then what form of government would you substi- 
tute ? 

4. Will reform measures always run counter to the private inter¬ 
ests of some group or class? If so, how can reform be permanently 
accomplished ? 

5. Will such measures as the initiative, referendum, recall, pro¬ 
portional representation and the short ballot afford adequate solu¬ 
tions for modern political problems? 

6. Why does the public resent so indignantly the murder of 
American citizens by the mobs of Mexico, and yet make no par¬ 
ticular outcry against the murder of American citizens by mobs in 
America? 

7. What are the most pressing political and economic problems in 
your community, and why have they not been solved? What influ¬ 
ences have prevented their solution? 

8. Why do we so frequently emphasize the rights instead of the 
duties of democracy? What is the evil of this practise? 

9. What particular specific qualities should the people possess in 
order to make democracy a success? 

10. What specific meaning can we give to “Americanism” that will 
make it a practical working ideal for the citizens of/a democracy? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Emery, Henry Crosby, Politician, Party and People (Yale Univer¬ 
sity Press, New Haven, 1913). 

Baldwin, Simeon E., Education and Citizenship (Yale University 
Press, New Haven, 1912). 

Brewer, David J., American Citizenship (Yale University Press, 
New Haven, Conn., 1902). 

Chapter I, “Obligations of Citizenship.” 

Chapter III, “Service a Responsibility of Citizenship.” 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


19 


Chapter V, “The Duty of Striving to Better the Life of the 
Nation.” 

Bryce, James, The Hindrances to Good Citizenship (Yale Univer¬ 
sity Press, New Haven, Conn., 1910). 

Hadley, Arthur Twining, The Education of the American Citizen 
(Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 1901). 

Folk, J. W., “The Responsibility of Citizenship” ( Vanderbilt Uni¬ 
versity Quarterly V, 155, 1905). 

Dealey, J. Q., The Development of the State (Silver, Burdett & Co., 
New York, 1909). 

Chapter XIV, “Citizenship.” 

Sharp, F. C., Education for Character (Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 
Ind., 1917). 

Chapter X, “Direct Training in Citizenship ” 

Chapter XI, “The Nature and Conditions of Effective Moral 
Training.” 

Inglis, Alexander, Principles of Secondary Education (Houghton, 
Mifflin Company, New York, 1918). 

Chapter XVI, “The Place of Social Sciences in the Pro¬ 
gram of Studies.” 

Price, G. V., “Socialism of High School History” ( Education 40: 
307-16, January, 1920). 

Gosling, T. W., “High School Program for Training in Citizenship” 
in School Review 28: 57-65, January, 1920. 

Thaler, W. H., “On Education and the New Democracy” in Educa¬ 
tional Review 59: 12-18, January, 1920. 

Snedden, D., “Some New Problems in Education for Citizenship” 
in International Journal of Ethics 30: 1-15, 1919. 

Seerley, Homer H., “The American Teacher in Politics” in Educa¬ 
tional Review 59: 1-11, January, 1920. 


CHAPTER II 


HOW MAY CONSTRUCTIVE PATRIOTISM BE DEVELOPED ? 

HE tragic need of developing constructive patriotism. 



as a part of the educational process, was vividly 


brought home to me in the first year of my teaching ex¬ 
perience. I was teaching a university class in American 
government. With a beginner’s zeal I was trying to make 
of the subject something more than a description of statutes 
and constitutions. I was trying to clothe the legal skeleton 
with the flesh and blood of political and social realities. I 
described government as a great cooperative enterprise, in¬ 
tended to minister to human needs. I attempted to analyze 
the dynamic forces of sympathy and greed, of altruism 
and avarice, of patriotism and indifference that functioned 
behind the scenes. I tried to portray the ceaseless conflict 
in the interplay of these contending forces. 

I was rewarded by the sustained interest of my students 
and their enthusiastic response. But my self-complacency 
was of short duration. One of the student organizations 
was found short in its accounts. An investigation followed. 
Ingenious grafting by student officials wa^ discovered, and 
the dishonest methods employed were those learned in my 
course in government. I had so presented the corrupt in¬ 
fluences at work that the pupils were impressed with the 
cleverness of the methods, rather than with the tragedies 
that they invoked. Instead of training effective citizens I 
was making expert grafters. 

Nor could this conspicuous failure of the teacher be 
shifted to any moral delinquency of the students. They 


20 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


21 


were normal boys with normal instincts and emotions. I 
had depicted graft and cunning without the revolting and 
inhuman consequences that beset its path. I had given only 
part of the picture, the clever manipulations of the corrup¬ 
tionists, inadvertently omitting the shocking results that 
would have outraged the sensibilities of the class and visited 
upon the grafters, not an appreciation of their cleverness, 
but the opprobrium of righteous scorn. I had pointed, out 
the ludicrous mistakes and inconsistencies into which the 
vagaries of an indifferent electorate had led the government, 
without following up with remorseless thoroughness the in¬ 
human consequences that too frequently ensued. The 
students had smiled at the humor but missed the tragedy. 

Students may smile admiringly at obstructionist tactics 
of ingenious leaders, but when they learn that the result 
is the failure of a milk inspection ordinance, and that the 
failure means the death of helpless children through the 
use of uninspected milk, the smile gives way to righteous 
indignation. They may view with complacent humor the 
devious methods of the demagogue to mislead the indifferent 
and uninformed, but when they learn that the success, so 
cleverly achieved, is at the expense of civic decency and 
honor, such indifference and ignorance becomes a challenge 
to their manhood and self-respect. The normal man hates 
injustice, resents the oppression of the weak, and will fight 
a denial of the square deal to his fellow men. And yet 
corruption in government, inefficiency in public office, or 
indifference among the electorate, is always followed by 
these pernicious evils. Had this connection been made 
definite, graphic and real, my students would have learned 
to loathe rather than to tolerate these fundamental ills. 

And this does not mean that class-room instruction must 
degenerate into “uplift” moralizing. Nor does it mean in 
any sense a sacrifice of scientific accuracy or exacting 


22 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


scholarship. On the contrary it means an accurate portrayal 
of our institutions, the forces that function through them, 
and the results that are achieved. To do less would be 
unscientific, because it would be but a partial truth. To do 
more is useless. The instinctive reaction of the normal 
boy and girl when confronted with the human results of 
the failures and achievements of government will be far 
more effective than moral preachments. Let the people of 
America see our government and our democracy in its 
naked reality and in its fullest human significance; let them 
see the dividends of happiness that it can yield and the 
tragic suffering that it can cause; let them visualize with 
the dramatic vividness that the truth alone can give, the 
infinite possibilities of government for human weal or hu¬ 
man ills, and there will develop a social consciousness and 
a constructive patriotism, that will function as long as men 
are endowed with the nobler impulses of the race. 

Civic indifference has not been due to lack of social in¬ 
stincts. The capacity of our people to respond generously 
and heroically to the call of humanity has given the lie to 
those who declared that our prosperity and love of ease 
had destroyed our nobler instincts. Absorbed in individual¬ 
istic enterprise, or lulled to a false security by a too credu¬ 
lous faith in the capacity of the government to run itself, 
we have been blind to its possibilities and neglectful of its 
failures. Our task is to awaken our people to the realities 
of our political life, in order that our instinctive love of 
justice and the American sense of chivalry may be stimulated 
into effective action. For it is from these instincts that we 
must draw the virile power of social consciousness and 
dynamic Americanism. 

The possibilities thus afforded are evidenced by the suc¬ 
cessful work of the public schools in developing the patriot¬ 
ism of war. There is scarcely one among us that can not 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


23 


recall the thrill of patriotic fervor with which we learned 
of the heroic exploits of Concord and of Lexington. Who 
has not felt the generous ardor of patriotic impulse in the 
story of Paul Jones and his ringing words, “Don’t give up 
the ship”? What boy has not been prompted to heart¬ 
searching inquiry of his own loyalty by the heroism of 
Gettysburg and Chickamauga and the brilliant victories of 
San Juan and Manila Bay? These memories stand out as 
emotional epochs in the drab background of our educational 
careers. They were the occasions when daily lessons es¬ 
caped the confines of the unreal and the pedantic, and when 
we lived as well as learned in the educational process. 

Has this work been well done? Has the school imparted 
to the average boy the lessons of love of country? Has it 
developed from his instinctive life a dynamic power of 
patriotism upon which the country could rely in the hour 
of national peril? The answer is found in the prompt enact¬ 
ment and remarkable enforcement of the draft law, in the 
fidelity and enthusiasm with which the public voluntarily 
accepted restrictions upon their traditional liberties; in the 
marvelous generosity with which our people poured forth 
their gold in voluntary offerings to their country’s cause; 
and in the crusader’s zeal of our soldiery and the deathless 
valor of our arms. Never was a great peaceful democracy 
converted into a resistless military power in so short a time. 
Never was a great citizen army of like dimension raised, 
equipped and trained so speedily and effectively. Never 
was industry revolutionized to the stern purposes of war 
with such precision and despatch. When all the mistakes 
are counted and all the blunders tabulated, the fact will still 
remain that America’s response to the call of humanity 
surpassed, in speed, efficiency and magnitude, all previous 
achievements. 

America may seem to have hesitated at the beginning of 


24 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


the struggle. Her response may seem to many to have been 
too long delayed. But the cause is to be found in the tradi¬ 
tional ignorance of our public in regard to world affairs, 
and the naive confidence of our people in the perfection and 
saving grace of our isolation. Our delay resulted from 
ignorance and not from ignoble desire. We were slow in 
realizing the sinister character of the struggle, but when the 
real issues became apparent, we did not hesitate. America's 
real spirit has been accurately portrayed by an English 
critic who declared that our neutrality was the only possible 
course “until the great majority of the American people 
shared in the president's knowledge and insight; and, deep 
as was the ignorance of European affairs among the mass 
of the British people in 1914, it was still more profound 
among the mass of Americans, thousands of miles away 
from Europe. The enlightenment of this vast body of opin¬ 
ions was slow, but it was sure. The truth would out. 
Prussianism at war inevitably unmasked itself; it boasted 
of its strength and its project of dominion; it displayed, 
on a wider scale and in a more terrible and indiscriminate 
fashion than the world had yet seen, the evils that flow 
from irresponsible power. And so the American people, 
like their British kinsmen, were awakened to the facts; 
more than that, they were forced, as we were, to forsake a 
tradition of isolation from Europe and arr indifference to 
its destiny that was older and stronger than our own.” 

America’s magnificent response, when the issue became 
clear, is sufficient evidence of the patriotic education of our 
people. But how has it been accomplished? When we 
have been so successful in developing the patriotism of war, 
why have we so nearly failed in inculcating a patriotism of 
peace ? The same men and women who will willingly give 
their all to defend their national honor, will frequently view 
domestic tragedies and disgrace with indifference and un- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


25 


concern. An insult to American citizens in foreign lands 
is met with unified hostility and resentment, but the useless 
loss of a million lives through the ravages of preventable 
disease is viewed in complacent ease. 

The answer is not hard to find. War is an intensely 
dramatic subject. Its appeal to the basic instincts is clear, 
vital and resistless. It takes no careful preparation by the 
teacher, no penetrating powers of analysis, no wealth of 
descriptive genius, to arouse an emotional response. Its 
heroism, its tragedy, its sacrifice are self-apparent. The 
appeal to the instinctive love of conflict, the instincts of 
chivalry, of sympathy and of the heroic are automatic. 
The barest study of our military history can not help but 
arouse the thrills of patriotic fervor. It can not help but 
inculcate into the consciousness of youth an admiration and 
a love for martial glory. Youth becomes enamored with 
the thrill of generous emotion. It is the only manly outlet 
for his nobler instincts that his contact with life has afforded 
him. He delights to give himself up to its exhilarating 
experiences on stated patriotic occasions. It is in this way 
that the patriotic education of our youth has been accom¬ 
plished. It has followed the line of least resistance, and 
the more difficult and important problem of creating patri¬ 
otic interests in the problems of peace has been neglected. 
In fact, it has sometimes seemed that we have been un¬ 
conscious of the need of such an interest. We seem to have 
forgotten that for every year our nation has spent in war, 
we have lived fifteen years in peace. We have ignored the 
gigantic problems of domestic justice, of public health, 
and of social amelioration that daily cry out for settlement. 
We have forgotten that their successful solution requires 
the spirit of self-sacrifice and the resistless devotion to the 
public weal that only a deep sense of constructive patriotism 
or dynamic Americanism can provide. 


26 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


We are directly confronted with the problem of whether 
such a spirit of constructive patriotism or dynamic Ameri¬ 
canism can be developed. Is war the only cause around 
which we can rally the emotional powers of man ? Is war 
the only business of society that carries its appeal to the in¬ 
stinctive forces of humanity? Is there nothing in the study 
of the community, in the history of our years of peace, 
in the social and industrial conflicts of our national life, in 
the battle between political ideals, that has its appeal to the 
dynamic forces of instinctive life? This is the crucial point. 

The superficial popular belief seems to be that problems 
of peace do not have their appeal to the instinctive forces 
of human nature. Certain it is that the appeal is not so 
self-evident or so automatic. Certain it is that if the appeal 
is there it will require careful preparation, the exercise of 
analytical powers and the use of accurate description to 
drive it home with telling force. But these difficulties can 
not hide the fact that in the problems of modem life, with 
all their tragic settings and implications, there are untold 
possibilities for effective appeals to the instincts that will 
produce great resources of emotional power. It is in the 
cultivation and direction of these instincts and their ac¬ 
companying emotions that we may inculcate an effective 
spirit of constructive patriotism. \ 

We must, therefore, consider the nature and character of 
instincts to ascertain what ones are available for our pur¬ 
poses and how they are to be utilized. For our uses the 
discussion of the instincts as given by William McDougall 
in his Introduction to Social Psychology is perhaps the 
most useful one. He defines an instinct “as an inherited or 
innate psycho-physical disposition which determines its 
possessor to perceive, and to pay attention to, objects of a 
certain class, to experience an emotional excitement of a 
particular quality upon perceiving such an object, and to 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


27 


act in regard to it in a particular manner, or, at least, to 
experience an impulse to such action.” 

For purposes of illustration, let us examine an example 
of parental instinct with its accompanying tender emotion. 
Normal human beings, especially women, upon seeing a 
little helpless baby, experience the tender emotion and are 
conscious of a desire to extend physical protection to the 
child by throwing the arms about it. Here is an innate, 
inherited quality which causes one to pay attention to an 
object of a particular class, to experience a definite emotion 
and to feel an impulse to definite action regarding it. This 
inherited, innate quality then is an instinct. 

Instincts are the sole springs of human action. They are 
the dynamic forces of life. They are the causes of all bodily 
and mental action. To control, train and cultivate the in¬ 
stincts is to control the thought and action of the individual. 
How far, then, may this be done is a vital question. 

In considering the possibility of modifying the instincts, 
McDougall makes an analysis of the instinctive process 
which seems helpful. The innate psycho-physical disposi¬ 
tion which we call instinct he divides into three parts, the 
inlet or afferent, the central, and the motor or efferent part. 
The afferent or inlet is that part of the process by which 
the impulses initiated by the perception of the native object 
of the instinct are received and elaborated. The central 
part is that which determines the distribution of the nervous 
impulses which are the correlates of the emotional aspects 
of the process. The efferent determines the distribution of 
impulses to the muscles which are to carry out the felt 
impulse to action. Thus in the case of the parental instinct, 
the afferent is that part of the instinctive process by which 
the perception of a child stimulates the psycho-physical dis¬ 
position. The central part is where the nervous impulses 
are aroused and the tender emotion created. The efferent 


28 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


is that part of the process which creates the impulse to 
throw the arms around the child in a protecting embrace. 

The afferent or receptive part, and the efferent or motor 
part, are capable of great modification, independently of 
each other and of the central part, the latter persisting 
‘‘throughout life as the essential unchanging nucleus of the 
disposition.” This is of supreme importance, for in our com¬ 
plex civilization appeals to the basic social instincts, in their 
native forms, are rarely possible. They are apparently too 
remote, or so complicated and varied in their expression, 
as not to be recognized. And yet the hope of society must 
be based upon the virile effective action of citizens, moti¬ 
vated by their social instincts and directed by intelligent 
choice. 

No group of American citizens anywhere would tolerate 
the sight of babies being poisoned by improperly adulterated 
milk. Yet these same men would witness the defeat of a 
milk inspection ordinance with scarcely a second thought, 
although the defeat of the ordinance means the poisoning 
of babies. But to comprehend that requires thinking and 
imagination to follow out the causes to their natural re¬ 
sults. The two have not yet been associated in their minds, 
and until they are, there will be no popular demand for 
milk inspection, no adequately effective motive to secure 
its passage and enforcement. The real problem, therefore, 
is to educate the voter to the point where he understands 
the real human significance of such an ordinance, and until, 
therefore, a new afferent inlet into his instinct of tender 
emotion has been established. 

Stated more broadly, the fundamental problem of civic 
training is to establish new afferent inlets to the basic social 
instincts of the voter, so that his response to the problems of 
peace will be as effective and virile as his response to the 
challenge of war. This is to be done by showing him that 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


29 


the functions of government may be actually translated into 
terms of human happiness and human woe. Governmental 
inefficiency must be synonymous in his mind with the want, 
misery and immorality that flourish in the city slums; with 
the loss of life through preventable accidents, and with the 
poverty and desolation of the orphan children that fre¬ 
quently follow in its wake; and with the blighted opportuni¬ 
ties of growing girls and boys whose school-days and idle 
hours have not been profitably employed. This conception 
of the human significance of government must be brought 
home time and time again, with countless incidents, until 
it has become a part of his daily thought and of his point 
of view. 

But this is not all. Not only must our citizens be so 
trained that civic problems will find an inlet to their in¬ 
stinctive life, but the efferent part of the process must be 
directed to function effectively. It is not enough that the 
defeat of the milk inspection ordinance should outrage the 
feelings of the voter by appealing to his parental and pug¬ 
nacious instincts. Unless there follows an intelligent and 
effective effort to create a public opinion and to hold the 
proper officers to strict accountability, the voter will be 
impotent. Training for civic responsibility must include a 
training in the essential nature of our democracy, in the re¬ 
lations of the voter to his community, his political parties 
and his state, and in the proper methods of making his voice 
effective. Finally it must include the driving home of the 
conviction that the tragic results of the defeat of the milk 
inspection ordinance continue their daily toll of life until 
the action has been reversed. If this is done the impulse to 
action in behalf of the helpless babies continues until its 
possessor secures the thrill of joy that comes from its ful¬ 
fillment, or the pain and anger that results from effective 
opposition. For in the latter case the instinct of pugnacity 


30 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


and the emotion of anger are aroused and a new dynamic 
force is available on the side of justice and humanity. 

Any such effective program for the moral or social train¬ 
ing of the youth invariably encounters many scoffers who 
will declare it can not be done. They take refuge in the old 
adage that one can’t change human nature. The obvious 
answer is that no one is seeking to change human nature. 
Our whole program is based upon the elemental instincts 
which help to constitute human nature. All we argue for 
is to make human nature more articulate amid the bewilder¬ 
ing complexities of modern life. To deny to human nature 
the parental instinct as a dominant factor in human life 
is a slander on humanity. To widen the scope of its activity 
by adding new afferent inlets, and to increase its efficiency 
by making the bodily and mental reactions more effective, 
is not defying but merely perfecting the nature of man. 

Should I approach a man with insulting words and 
threatening assaults, his pugnacious instinct will be aroused; 
he will experience the emotion of anger, and will probably 
give expression to his impulse to fight me, although his 
efforts to do me bodily injury may be cumbersome and 
ineffective. But suppose this man is later carefully trained 
and drilled in the art of self-defense or pugilism. Then 
suppose some one approaches with insults, ^ibes and threats. 
His same instinct of pugnacity will be aroused, he will ex¬ 
perience the same emotion of anger and he will feel the same 
impulse to fight him, but he will fight in a much more 
effective and improved manner. Has his nature been 
changed? The answer is obvious. There is the same 
instinct, and the same emotion, and the same impulse to 
fight, but the fighting is done effectively. 

Now suppose the same man is trained and educated in a 
country where dueling is the established method of aveng¬ 
ing insults and the thrown glove is the accepted method of 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


31 


the challenge. Should a glove be thrown in his face, it 
arouses the same instinct, though the stimulus is vastly dif¬ 
ferent. Here training has given another afferent inlet to 
the instinct of pugnacity. These illustrations should sug¬ 
gest how the instinctive processes may be adapted to the 
accomplishment of social and civic ends. 

What instincts are the most available for our purposes, 
is another question that now requires attention. This is 
not the place for an extended classification of instincts, nor, 
in fact, does an authoritative classification seem possible. 
Apparently there are as many classifications as there are 
writers on the subject. It is obvious, however, that the in¬ 
stincts generally described as the social instincts are the 
ones in which we are interested. The instincts and innate 
tendencies of this class that we find the most readily availa¬ 
ble are the parental instinct, the instinct of pugnacity, the 
sympathetic tendency, and the self-regarding sentiment. 

It is from the parental instinct with its tender emotion 
that are derived most of the nobler impulses, the feelings 
of compassion, and the spirit of altruism. Here, indeed, are 
unexploited possibilities for the building of civic character. 
McDougall argues that it was the operation of this instinct 
that led to the abolition of slavery and serfdom. Benjamin 
Kidd argues that the extension of political democracy was 
due to this instinctive source, since it frequently came as a 
voluntary gift from those who possessed the power. 

The history of great reforms along the line of humanita¬ 
rian legislation in the United States is replete with striking 
illustrations. The agitation for the prohibition of poisonous 
phosphorus in the manufacture of matches required a long 
and patient campaign of education before a sufficiently ef¬ 
fective public opinion could be mobilized in its behalf. And 
yet surely this was the basis of a dramatic appeal that ought 
to have been immediately effective. One who had ever seen 


32 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


a hapless victim of phosphorous poisoning never could for¬ 
get it. The pictures of these human derelicts were pub¬ 
lished in the public prints. The statistics were given the 
widest circulation. Every intelligent person must have been 
aware of the inhuman practise as well as of the simplicity 
of the remedy, for a harmless phosphorus could be substi¬ 
tuted for the other at but slight additional expense. Why 
then the delay ? 

Were the American people lacking in parental instincts? 
Were they indifferent to the useless suffering and agony of 
others? Were they too absorbed in their own pursuits to 
offer aid to the helpless in distress? None of these in¬ 
quiries seem to touch the vital spot. Our people had not 
been trained to see the social significance of government. 
They had not been trained to feel a deep personal respon¬ 
sibility for its failure or success. They were not accustomed 
to connect up in their minds the tragedies of industrial dis¬ 
ease with inefficiency in government. They had never felt 
any responsibility for human suffering unless chance threw 
it before their very eyes. With ostrich-like naivete they 
went on the happy principle that what they did not see, for 
them did not exist. In short, the afferent inlets to their in¬ 
stinctive natures were adjusted so as to arouse their emo¬ 
tional activity only when the human suffering was presented 
to their actual gaze. Herein lies the explanation of the ap¬ 
parently unchivalrous and brutal attitude of the public. 

It was only when public propaganda had painted the pic¬ 
ture of the horror and suffering with life-like reality, only 
when by constant repetition and graphic description the 
situation was made vivid and specific, only when the real 
responsibility of the citizen as the only means of stopping 
the inhuman practise was brought home with resistless logic 
and dramatic appeal, that there were established new afferent 
inlets, through which this appeal of human suffering could 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


33 


gain access to their tender emotions. They then felt the 
instinct to action, to protest, to aid the objects of their emo¬ 
tion. When they encountered the obstacles of legislative 
indifference, then their fighting instinct was aroused. Public 
indignation blazed forth, and the fight was won. 

This is a typical example of the history of a piece of 
ameliorative legislation that could be duplicated many times 
in the various legislative bodies throughout our nation. Had 
our people been taught in their youth the true significance 
of government, had they learned to look upon it as an in¬ 
strument of happiness or weal, had they become accustomed 
to identifying in their minds the functions of governments 
with the deepest interests of humanity, had they learned the 
true significance of the story of the Good Samaritan as 
applied to the realities of modern life, their response would 
have been quicker and more effective. 

Nor must it be supposed that where there is an ultimate 
failure to gain a response from a given individual or group, 
that the necessary explanation is that the person or group 
is lacking in the parental instinct. For it is a matter of 
common observation that many men who are devoted fathers 
and husbands and genial and sympathetic neighbors, are 
wholly lacking in broad, altruistic or humanitarian impulses. 
These cases are doubtless due to a variety of causes, but 
among them generally lies the lack of early effective training, 
which might have given them the social view-point, and 
opened up new and various inlets in their instinctive natures, 
that would have made them both good citizens and better 
neighbors. 

There is scarcely an important topic in civics, in domestic 
history, or in community life, when accurately analyzed, 
that does not contain the possibility of an effective appeal 
to the parental instinct. These subjects thus have a special 
value as the medium through which the spirit of constructive 


34 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


patriotism may be developed, if taught in an effective man¬ 
ner. Moreover, it is where one gives them a dramatic setting 
and clothes them with the realities of life, that they become 
interesting to the student. It is significant that the subject 
of civics in the hands of one teacher is deadly uninteresting, 
while in the hands of another, it is fascinating in the ex¬ 
treme. [The difference very frequently is that the latter uses 
civics as the means of establishing in the consciousness of 
the pupil new and absorbing contacts with life, thus enrich¬ 
ing the sum total of his instinctive and emotional experi¬ 
ences. 

For example, one teacher will find in the study of the 
state legislature, its organizations and functions, only the 
dry skeleton bones of a legal institution, with certain defini¬ 
tions to remember, certain processes to master and certain 
details to organize. But there are no vivid contacts with 
life. The legislature is never filled with men of flesh and 
blood, men intensely human, like most men whom the pupil 
knows, men with pettiness and patriotism, and with selfish¬ 
ness and altruism, trying to deal with the real human prob¬ 
lems that exist in every group. Many of these problems 
have roots that run deep down into the noblest and the 
worst passions of human nature. These conflicting passions 
present a fascinating and unending struggle that is typical 
of life. Decisions are made that touch life at a thousand 
different points. A teacher who does not see in such a 
situation the opportunity of bringing home to the boy or 
girl an increasing sense of the social significance of govern¬ 
ment and politics, who does not find a way of awakening 
the nobler instincts and emotions to effective action, and 
who does not establish new points of contact between society 
and the instinctive nature of the individual, is indeed asleep 
to his possibilities as a leader, and blind to his opportunities 
as a teacher. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


35 


It was my lot to study civics under a teacher who failed 
to see. She was a woman of marvelous character and per¬ 
sonality to whom I am indebted for much in other ways, 
but who lacked the training, the imagination and the back¬ 
ground to make the subject a vital human one. I committed 
important provisions of the Constitution; I learned the quali¬ 
fications of various officers; and I mastered the dictionary 
meaning of legislature, executive and judiciary. But I never 
dreamed that any or all of them had anything to do with 
life. I never imagined that some of the most dramatic and 
significant conflicts of history had been won and lost in 
legislative halls. I never conceived that right in my native 
community we had conflicts of interests, absorbing human 
problems, that the community solved through these instru¬ 
mentalities of government. As I write, I can not recall a 
single emotional thrill that I ever experienced in my high- 
school course in civics. In my boyish mind there was no 
conceivable connection between patriotism and politics. 
Could a training for citizenship have been more barren, 
impotent or sterile? 

Let us now consider the instinct of pugnacity with its 
emotion of anger as one of the instincts to be utilized in the 
development of citizenship that is socially responsive. The 
instinct of pugnacity is in a way dependent upon the other 
instincts. It is most readily excited by meeting opposition 
to impulsive actions impelled by other instincts. One’s ten¬ 
der emotions are aroused by the appearance of a suffering 
child, and there is the immediate impulse to give comfort 
or relief. Should one encounter opposition in ministering 
to the child there is at once excited the instinct of pugnacity, 
and the emotion of anger. This instinct is of great social 
importance in supplementing the parental instinct and pro¬ 
viding for it the great moral forces created by righteous 
indignation. As McDougall has well observed, both “in the 


36 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


nursery and in the school righteous anger will always have 
a great and proper part to play in the training of the in¬ 
dividual for his life in society.” 

It is obvious that the parental instinct alone would be a 
weak force upon which to lean for the aggressive, construc¬ 
tive patriotism demanded by the exigencies of modern life. 
It is the anger arising from the opposition to the tender 
impulses that produces the power we need. Righteous indig¬ 
nation, when intelligently controlled and directed, is an in¬ 
dispensable force for social betterment, and its cultivation 
and direction become, therefore, an object of our deepest 
concern. 

. The wave of popular indignation culminating in the na¬ 
tional prohibition amendment is an excellent case in point. 
It is doubtful if the appeals to the other instincts alone 
would have accomplished the same result. The public had a 
general desire to remove the worst evils of the liquor traffic, 
and many efforts of one kind or the other were being made. 
It was when these efforts met with stubborn and hostile 
opposition that the public began to be aroused. When the 
liquor dealers lost all sense of discretion and decency, openly 
flaunted the authority of the government, ruthlessly and 
corruptly sought the control of political parties, and defied 
the public will-then it was that they metxtheir Waterloo. 

It was the same in the campaign against poisonous phos¬ 
phorus in the manufacture of matches. With the realiza¬ 
tion of the useless suffering involved, the public began to 
become concerned. They expressed their desires in resolu¬ 
tions to Congress, and a few wrote personal letters urging 
the justice of the cause. The movement might have proved 
abortive at this very point but for the suggestion that the 
impulse of the public to grant relief was meeting with op¬ 
position^ from indifferent congressmen and from certain 
special interests that were obviously concerned. A mild 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


37 


interest quickly gave way to righteous anger. Men who 
were only casually interested arose in wrath and the law was 
passed. 

The opportunities for the employment of this splendid 
social force and its intelligent direction are too numerous 
to mention, and yet they are too frequently ignored. They 
have not only a great social value but an equally great 
pedagogical value. Normal individuals exult over an op¬ 
portunity to experience righteous anger. Significant move¬ 
ments in history, the solution of community problems, the 
development of political issues, if clearly analyzed, dis¬ 
close continuous opposition to all the movements that have 
been prompted by the better impulses of men. This opposi¬ 
tion may have been due to ignorance, bigotry or greed, and 
it affords a splendid opportunity to organize the instinctive 
and virile emotions of youth against the forces of reaction. 

It would be difficult to imagine a greater service to society 
than to equip its youth with a righteous scorn against these 
fundamental ills. 

When taught in this manner the subjects of social science, 
found in the public-school curriculum, take on a vital aspect. 
They develop the gripping interest of the drama. The local 
history of a city or a rural community becomes a deadening 
monotony, if it amounts merely to the marshaling of chrono¬ 
logical events, but if it is the story of conflicting forces, an 
accurate account of the ceaseless battle between progress 
and reaction, as it found expression in the terms of local 
issues, it becomes an absorbing tale. It enables the student * 
to begin the formulation of his personal philosophy amidst 
the stimulating and wholesome influences of the realities of 
life. He instinctively begins to estimate public questions 
in terms of social values, and his whole instinctive nature 
becomes adjusted to functioning upon the problems of his 
every-day environment. 


38 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


We now come to the consideration of sympathy as a valu¬ 
able innate tendency to be utilized in the development of 
constructive patriotism. Sympathy is not an instinct, per¬ 
haps, within the meaning of our definition, but it is an ele¬ 
ment in human nature of great social significance. It is 
probably a product of the parental instinct, the gregarious 
instinct, and certain egoistic tendencies. Whatever its ac¬ 
curate psychological analysis may be, its meaning for our 
purposes is obvious enough. 

The functioning of the sympathetic tendency seems to 
be twofold, the experiencing of fundamental emotions 
whenever the same emotions are witnessed in others, and 
the desire, on the part of one, to share his emotions with 
others. Every one has experienced a sense of distress upon 
viewing the grief of others, or has felt the distinct influence 
of infectious laughter on the part of his associates. So 
likewise most of us desire to share great emotional excite¬ 
ment with others. Music, the drama, inspiring scenery, good 
news and all such things that arouse strong emotional re¬ 
sponse, we like best when we share them with friends, and 
there is generally present on all such occasions a decided 
tendency so to do. 

The social utility of sympathy consists in the fact that 
through the tendency, emotional states spread very rapidly 
through society and thus affect public opinion much more 
quickly than would otherwise be possible. Thus in the cam¬ 
paign against poisonous phosphorus, when the leaders of 
each community began to evidence certain emotional hos¬ 
tility, it began to spread to the crowd much more rapidly 
than it would be possible to reach them by a campaign of 
education. This is also accentuated by the natural desire 
of those who felt the heat of burning indignation to impart 
their feeling to others. The missionary attitude and the al- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


39 


truistic spirit of the pioneers in humanitarian enterprises 
are largely the product of sympathetic natures. 

Moreover, the capacity of a community or a group to 
cooperate successfully in public undertakings, a capacity 
that is essential to democratic success of any kind, is con¬ 
ditioned very largely upon the existence of broad and effec¬ 
tive sympathies, while one can not hope to become an effec¬ 
tive leader of the public unless possessed of sympathetic 
tendencies that are virile and profound. 

The nourishing and developing of this tendency thus plays 
a vital part in the preparation for citizenship. We have 
already seen something of the opportunities for appeals to 
the social instincts that the social sciences afford, and the 
development of those instincts is the foundation of strong 
sympathetic tendencies. Perhaps one other concrete ex¬ 
ample will suffice. 

A very splendid teacher of high-school civics always takes 
her class to visit the orphans’ home, among the other public 
institutions of the community. This particular visit was 
utilized to bring home to the pupil a keener realization of 
the human significance of local government. Nothing ap¬ 
peals to the sympathies more than the conception of home¬ 
less orphans. Nothing, perhaps, could bring home more 
vividly to youthful understanding the tragic significance of 
inefficiency in the local government, for it then becomes to 
them a very real and a very human institution. No longer 
was it a mere matter of formal rules and legal technicalities, 
but the parent and guardian of helpless orphans. Here an 
efficient government meant a happy home, kind treatment, 
effective training, good food, and a wholesome childhood, 
while inefficient government meant sorrow, tragedy and 
impotence. Just a few of these every-day illustrations, 
available in every community, in the hands of a skilful, 


40 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


sympathetic teacher, will bring to every boy and girl a new 
understanding of the significance of civic duty. There will 
follow inevitably an increased interest and a growing sense 
of personal accountability that good government so im¬ 
peratively demands. 

The self-regarding sentiment ought now to be briefly con¬ 
sidered, since it plays an important role in the social life 
of the individual. It is not an instinct or an innate tendency, 
but is rather the product of some of them as their per¬ 
ceptual and motor aspects have been modified by experience. 
The self-regarding sentiment is the organization of the emo¬ 
tional disposition and experiences centered around the 
subject of one’s self. The two dominant factors in the 
creation of this sentiment are the influence of society in 
establishing a system of rewards and punishments and sym¬ 
pathy with its influence toward a harmony of feeling and 
emotion between individuals. 

It is this sentiment that gives us such a high regard for 
the praise and blame of our fellow men and for moral ap¬ 
proval and disapproval in general. This may be developed 
into regard for an ideal which may dominate life, even to 
the extent of violating the opinion of the community. The 
development, training and direction of instinctive and emo¬ 
tional life, and its innate tendencies, and \heir organization 
into the most altruistic and ennobling sentiments, is the 
very essence of patriotic education. 

This sentiment is capable of being extended, and generally 
is, to all the groups with which the individual has any inti¬ 
mate association and special interest. Thus it is by the ex¬ 
tension of this sentiment to one’s family, church, college, 
community, or nation that one finds his actions profoundly 
influenced by the interests of these groups and their claim 
to his fidelity. The opportunities for the direction of this 
sentiment in its extension to the community and to the na- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


41 


tion are almost without limit. The ties of human interest 
between the individual and the modern community are so 
many and so vital that one finds on every hand the materials 
for civic training. Our failures have not been for want of 
opportunity or of material, but a failure to see the vision 
and to analyze the task. A pedantic or scholastic point of 
view and an interest in the subject-matter has too frequently 
obscured the fact that our main objective must be the train¬ 
ing of the boy or girl for the gigantic tasks of every-day 
democracy. The teaching and materials that do not con¬ 
tribute directly to this task, do not meet the demands of 
modern life. 

We have seen that a sentiment is, in the words of Mc- 
Dougall, “an organized system of emotional disposition cen¬ 
tered about the idea of some object’’ and that “the organiza¬ 
tion of the sentiments in the developing mind is determined 
by the course of experience.” We have seen how the ma¬ 
terials of the curriculum, particularly the social sciences, 
afford unequaled opportunities for appeals to the more social 
of the instincts and their accompanying emotions. We have 
seen how these can be trained to function in connection 
with the study of the communities in which we live. We 
have seen the sentiment of patriotism dominate our land 
and exact immeasurable toll of human sacrifice. We have 
gloried in the splendor of our patriotic fervor. Animated 
by its generous impulse our men have risen to heights of 
valor and achievement that the world will not forget. The 
gallantry and courage of our troops have left nothing to 
be desired. This magnificent example should serve us as a 
guide. 

The splendid patriotism thus evidenced has been a senti¬ 
ment of war. It has been developed by the study of the 
heroism, the glory and the tragedy of the battle-field. Love 
of country has been identified almost exclusively with 


42 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


national strife. Our task is to develop a sentiment of con¬ 
structive patriotism, not only concerned with the noble duty 
of its defense, but primarily with the opportunities of its 
perfection. It must be developed by the study of the hero¬ 
ism, the glory and the tragedy of the conflicts of peace. 
Love of country must be identified in the public mind with 
the unending struggle against ignorance, bigotry and greed. 
Patriotism must become a passion that marshals its host 
against unemployment, poverty and disease. It must organ¬ 
ize its forces against domestic injustice with the same 
terrible energy that it directs them against our foreign foes. 

Such an undertaking is indeed difficult but its importance 
is monumental. If it is possible to say that the murder of 
innocent persons in the race riots of Chicago is as great a 
blemish on our national honor as the killing of our citizens 
by the bandit gangs of Mexico; if it is fair to argue that 
the useless destruction of life and limb by preventable in¬ 
dustrial accidents in America is as great a crime against 
civilization as was Spain’s cruel and inhuman treatment of 
the Cubans; if we may justly reason that some of our 
ghastly excesses of mob law are no greater crimes against 
humanity than were the atrocities of the Boxer revolt in 
China, then why may we not develop a patriotic sentiment 
that will function as resistlessly against thise domestic evils 
as it does against our foreign foes ? 

The creation of this sentiment of virile constructive patri¬ 
otism, which is the essence of dynamic Americanism, must 
be the mission of the teacher. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. If most American citizens have normal instincts, why did it 
take so many years to get the nation aroused to the evils of child 
labor? Was it indifference to child welfare? 

2. Recently a state legislature appropriated forty thousand dol¬ 
lars to fight hog cholera but neglected to make any appropriation 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


43 


for fighting tuberculosis. The public did not seem disturbed. What 
is the explanation? Did the people think more of their hogs than 
they did of their afflicted fellows? 

3. Have the “muck rakers,” with their dramatic and frequently 
exaggerated criticisms of the government, been efficient in develop¬ 
ing a constructive patriotism? Why or how? 

4. What public issues in your community afford an appeal to the 
parental instinct and the tender emotion? 

5. Explain concretely just how this appeal should be made to be 
effective. 

6. Some teachers have made some progress in training the affer¬ 
ent part of the instinctive process, but have ignored the efferent. 
Explain how such training is impotent for practical purposes. 

7. Explain the psychological basis of what we call “school spirit” 
or “college spirit.” How may this be utilized in developing a con¬ 
structive patriotism? 

8. What detailed steps would you take to interest deeply your 
students in a study of your legislature? 

9. When a citizen confronts an issue like the prohibition of poi¬ 
sonous phosphorus, he may react in one of two ways: seek comfort 
in ignoring and forgetting it, or in fighting for it. State explicitly 
what incentives you would utilize and how you would proceed to 
develop habitual reactions of the latter type. 

10. What specific steps would you take to arouse a deep interest 
in your city government? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Ross, E. A., Social Psychology (Macmillan Company, New York, 
1911). 

James, William, Psychology (Henry Holt & Co., 1910). 

Chapter XXV, “Instinct” 

Wallas, Graham, Human Nature in Politics (Houghton, Mifflin 
Company, Boston, 1919). 

Part I, “The Conditions of the Problem.” 

McDougall, Social Psychology (John W. Luce & Co., Boston, 1919). 
Cooley, Social Organization (Scribner’s, New York, 1912). 

Hall, Arnold Bennett, Practical Problems of Politics (Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1920). 

Chapter I, “Public Opinion and Popular Government. 
Chapter II, “How May Public Opinion be Improved.” 


CHAPTER III 


THE INTELLECTUAL BASIS FOR CONSTRUCTIVE PATRIOTISM 

HE remedy for the evils of democracy is more 



democracy.” I sat in a great theater and heard an elo¬ 


quent statesman utter these words in clarion tones. I heard 
the audience reply with deafening applause. I saw them 
follow with slavish credulity the deductions he drew from 
this ringing declaration. Without thought or hesitation they 
had accepted the fundamental premise. To have questioned 
it would have shown a lack of confidence in democracy, a 
lack of faith in the American ideal. The words had an 
appeal to the imagination and emotional life of the hearers 
and they responded with unquestioning conviction. 

As I pondered over the incident and the marvelous efifect 
of the apparently self-evident assertion, my mind reverted 
to the days of carpetbag rule in the South. I remembered 
that the negroes had just been freed from slavery, and that 
in the very dawn of the new liberty, without education, 
training or experience, and burdened as they were with 
ignorance, superstition and poverty, the ballot was placed 
in their hands. They were thus given the balance of power 
in the politics of the southern states. The abuses of this 
power, the corruption of the government, the unparalleled 
extravagance and dishonesty that followed, are without 
precedent in the history of free governments. 

The reign of terror and incompetence was only ended 
when the intelligent people of these states, taking the law 
into their own hands, wrongly or rightly, denied to the ig¬ 
norant negro the rights that he had been given. It was only 


44 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


45 


when statutory and constitutional provisions had been de¬ 
fied, and fraud and intimidation employed, that the new 
civilization of the South could be erected upon the ruins of 
the old. As these incidents were passing through my mind, 
I wondered if the remedy for these particular evils of 
democracy was really more democracy. I wondered if the 
direct primary, the referendum, the initiative, or the recall 
would have solved the problem. I wondered if all that 
was needed was merely the extension of more political 
power to the unfortunate race that became the victim of 
its own ignorance and inexperience. 

I could not escape the conclusion that in this case at least 
the remedy for the evils of democracy was a more intelli¬ 
gent, experienced and better trained electorate. For when 
the average was improved by the forceful elimination of the 
unfit, the evils disappeared. 

Then again my mind wandered to Mexico, and I thought 
of the distress, anarchy and chaos that seemed to rule the 
destinies of our southern neighbor. I remembered that her 
constitution was as democratic as our own, and that her 
people were living under the form of popular government. 
I recalled the hopeless ignorance of the populace and their 
careless, care-free life, and I asked myself again, if in this 
case, the remedy for the evils of democracy was more 
democracy. Would all the instrumentalities of popular con¬ 
trol, if placed in the hands of the ignorant and inexperienced 
people of Mexico, usher in a new regime of order, justice 
and peace. Or could there be a real and effective demo¬ 
cratic government, competent to deal with the gigantic 
problems of modern life, without a regenerated citizenship, 
clear-eyed, intelligent, sincere. 

Then my thinking brought me nearer home and I recalled 
watching an election in the first ward of Chicago. I saw 
the denizens of the cheap boarding-houses, who had been 


46 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


collected and boarded without expense to themselves in 
order that they might be voted on election day, pass in to 
exercise their right of franchise. I saw the citizens of the 
ward reelect their feudal and beneficent overlord and politi¬ 
cal boss, a man who befriended the voters personally, but 
who protected the system of vice that corrupted their morals, 
menaced their homes and debauched their children. And 
then again I wondered if the remedy for this evil was more 
democracy and greater popular control. Or was the remedy 
to be found in cleaning up the district, educating the chil¬ 
dren, eliminating the inherently unfit, and establishing a 
more healthy environment for the young citizens of the 
future ? 

And yet a vast intelligent audience had accepted this doc¬ 
trine as a panacea for the social and economic ills of our 
democracy. Their attention was thus diverted from the 
great eternal problem of civic training and popular educa¬ 
tion, while such fundamental tasks as seeking the remedy 
for unemployment and perfecting a just and righteous sys¬ 
tem for the distribution of wealth, were brushed aside in the 
naive confidence that these problems would be solved when 
the new devices of popular government had been installed. 

And yet a moment’s critical observation would have shown 
the inadequacy of such a doctrine as \ modern panacea. 
Abundant evidence to the contrary was available to all if 
they had only used it. The audience responded with fine 
enthusiasm and emotion but failed to display habits of criti¬ 
cal analysis or thought. 

JJn fortunately this failure to think seems particularly 
true of politics. Some one has said that the average man 
.refuses to think critically about the two things in life that 
affect him most, politics and religion. I have seen men who 
think critically and carefully about their business, about 
their games, about their avocations, but who are “thought 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


4 7 


tight” when it comes to politics. They accept the traditional 
dogmas of their party or their party heroes. They accept 
plausible theories without question, if they emanate from 
sources that are orthodox. All the complex political judg¬ 
ments of their lives are made by their reference to a few trite 
“rule of thumb” political platitudes or plausible, euphonious 
sophistries. 

It follows that the organization of instinctive and emo¬ 
tional life into fine sentiments of constructive patriotism 
can not take place without certain intellectual capacities and 
qualifications. What does it avail society if the public con¬ 
science is aroused to an emotional pitch against certain in¬ 
equities of our economic life, if we seek only to establish 
some new instruments of popular control and leave the 
problem still unsolved? The development of an effective 
sentiment of constructive patriotism implies habits of criti¬ 
cal observation and analysis, an evolutionary point of view, 
and a passionate love of truth. Unless these mental traits 
can be developed, our emotional life, instead of being a 
great constructive force, will play slavish tribute to the 
power of demagogues. The demagogue can seek no greater 
boon than a strong emotional response when not directed 
with intelligence and understanding. 

The reign of the demagogue is based upon appeals to 
those whose emotions are normal but whose credulity is 
greater than their powers of critical analysis. Nor is dema¬ 
goguery always the product of dishonest intent, for it is only 
too frequently that a man makes the appeal in the best of 
faith, not realizing its inherent impotence. 

It is not unusual for an honest man, in the exigencies of 
a political campaign, to make the contest turn upon such 
issues as “Shall the People Rule,” although in truth and in 
fact such question can not honestly be involved, and the is¬ 
sues concerned are side-tracked and forgotten. Many an 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


48 

honest man has thus innocently played into the hands of 
designing politicians or special interests, whose success de¬ 
pended upon diverting public opinion from the real issues 
that were at stake. 

In a recent political campaign there was circulated a piece 
of literature appealing to farmers and workmen. The party 
claimed credit for the high prices the farmer received for 
cattle, hogs and grain, and impliedly promised a continuation 
of the same, while a little later on, the worker was assured 
immediate relief from the increasing cost of living. How 
prices were to be maintained and the cost of living lowered 
at the same time did not vex the committee or apparently 
scatter doubt among the electorate. 

Again the ease with which political parties have assigned 
the blame for hard times, bad crops and industrial depres¬ 
sion, or claimed the credit for good crops and industrial 
prosperity, demonstrate the blind credulity with which many 
of us accept the statements of our favorites. 

So long as these things can be done demagogues will 
prosper, the real vital issues will be avoided, and the most 
sinister influences in our political life will frequently escape 
political responsibility through campaign alibis. As long as 
the public mainly accepts any issue indicated by the dema¬ 
gogue that appeals to popular imagination, these alibis will 
be open to those whose real interests would spell defeat, 
were they known to the electorate. 

Another evil resulting from the failure to acquire criti¬ 
cal habits of observation is the tendency to surround his¬ 
toric incidents and characters with the sentimental glamour 
of unreality. A humorist has referred to this as the Laven¬ 
der and Old Lace method of history. Such impressions as 
that Washington never told a lie, that the early days of the 
republic were more glorious and unsullied by selfish and 
corrupting influences than now, and that the public men 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


49 


then were purer, nobler and more admirable than to-day, 
are typical examples. 

The evil of such a course is that it robs history of the 
fascination of reality; it destroys the perspective of the 
child; it must in time dull his love of truth, and finally 
lays the basis of a later cynicism. A boy or girl who goes 
out into the world to-day, equipped with such conceptions 
of life, comes very promptly to his disillusionment which 
is both painful and costly. When he finds that in govern¬ 
ment to-day and even in our popular heroes there is some¬ 
times selfishness, bigotry, pettiness and occasional dishonesty 
he is unprepared for the sudden shock. He may lose all 
confidence in the government and society. Wholly lacking 
in historical perspective he does not see things in their true 
light. He has no reasonable standard of values, and it is 
but a short step to hopeless cynicism. There are several 
men among my acquaintance who have this attitude, who 
say openly that they never vote, for it is useless. Ignorance, 
dishonesty and greed are bound to triumph. Such a posi¬ 
tion is only possible among thinking men when they have 
no historic perspective in which they can see the slow but 
steady advances that have characterized our national life. 

This does not mean that children should not be taught to 
honor and admire our national heroes, but rather that the 
admiration should be wholesome, just and honest. For 
example, the teacher who can not see adequate ground for 
the warmest kind of admiration and pride in the actual 
achievements of the framers of the Constitution is woefully 
lacking in imagination, historical perspective and accurate 
understanding of that significant achievement. It is not 
necessary to paint those pioneers as men inspired from 
heaven, able to achieve perfection. It is not necessary to 
attribute to them qualities of heart and mind that they did 
not possess. The magnitude of the problem, the hard- 


50 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


headed practical way in which they approached its solu¬ 
tion, the courage and self-confidence with which they ven¬ 
tured upon untried paths,—these are sufficient grounds 
for all the glory that they so richly deserve. Moreover, 
these are the same qualities of heart and mind that the 
citizenship of to-day requires. 

The remedy for these two evils of demagoguery and 
cynicism is to be found in forming habits of critical obser- 
yation and analysis. Here the instinct of curiosity must be 
employed, and its possibilities are without limit. The amount 
of time and energy that children will devote to puzzles is 
significant, and yet civics, if properly presented, becomes 
an interesting series of puzzles or problems to be solved by 
critical observation and analysis. The fact that these prob¬ 
lems are human ones, with dramatic settings, greatly in¬ 
creases the possibilities of attention. 

The political philosophy or the democratic theories of the 
fathers afifords an excellent example. If one is merely told 
that those theories will be found in the Declaration of In¬ 
dependence and the public addresses of the day, and they 
are to be taken at their face value, no problems are pre¬ 
sented, no critical attitude is developed, no instincts aroused. 
But let the student approach the problem in its real setting. 
Let him become interested in finding ^put and formulating 
the philosophy of the fathers. If he begins to rely too much 
upon the obvious meaning of the Declaration of Inde¬ 
pendence, ask him if that document was a product of deliber¬ 
ation and counsel. Was it adopted as an accurate statement 
of their beliefs ? Or was it adopted to accomplish a definite 
mission, viz., to provide a platform around which they 
might successfully rally the forces of the revolution? When 
men draw up such statements, in times of stress and strain, 
do they generally strive to say just what they think or do 
they seek to say what will catch the popular imagination? 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


5i; 


What about the declaration that all men are created equal, 
and the subsequent recognition of slavery in the constitu¬ 
tional convention? In arriving at a man's philosophy, do 
we accept his own words as conclusive, or do we examine 
them in the light of his activity and conduct? What, then, 
did the fathers think about equality and democracy and 
political philosophy ? 

By these and similar suggestive questions the pupil’s 
instinct of curiosity may be aroused and habits of critical 
observation and analysis become established. With this 
same method applied throughout, the student will be pre¬ 
pared to form intelligent judgments when required to do so 
in the performance of civic duty. When he is trying to 
determine for which political party he will vote, he will not 
accept at face value the high-sounding phrases of party 
platforms. He will not take campaign promises as the sole 
criterion for decision. He will not accept the candidate's 
version of the issues that are involved. He will compare 
party promise with party performance. He will subject the 
high-sounding promises and platforms to critical analysis 
in the light of all the facts that are reasonably available. 
In short, he will be able to vote intelligently. Surely this 
is a necessary step in the intellectual preparation for citi¬ 
zenship. 

The pupil who studies civics or history by this method 
soon becomes enamored with his task. When he discovers 
that he is dealing with the real forces of politics, that he is 
trying to unravel the tangled fabric of our political life, 
the subject will cease to appear to him as pedantic and arti¬ 
ficial but as fascinatingly realistic. It takes on a new dignity 
and importance that wins his respect, challenges his man-< 
hood, and absorbs his interest. 

One word of caution should be given. In emphasizing 
the importance of a critical attitude and the evils of credulity? 


52 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


care should be taken not to resort to the cheap methods of 
the muck raker, in which everything is questioned and 
everybody’s motives but his own are impugned. To be 
honestly critical and to withhold one’s judgment until the 
matter has received careful thought and analysis with an 
open mind, is one thing. To develop a morbid spirit of 
cynical distrust is a wholly different thing. 

This morbid desire for scandal perverts one’s judgment 
and defeats one’s own effort to know the truth. There are 
any number of individuals who have this peculiar mental 
twist, whose bias has poisoned the minds of many, and, un¬ 
fortunately, some of them are prominent reformers. A 
few years since the writer attended a public lecture given 
by Carrie Nation. She was heaping indiscriminate condem¬ 
nation upon all those in power. It was during President 
Roosevelt’s second term. A member of the audience spoke 
out in protest, calling attention to Mr. Roosevelt’s sterling 
qualities as a man and as a citizen. He then called attention, 
by way of clinching his argument, to the position taken by 
Mr. Roosevelt on the subject of large families and race 
suicide. Carrie Nation promptly retorted, in that stage 
whisper that betokened the giving of secret but authorita¬ 
tive information, that Mr. Roosevelt’s attitude on race sui¬ 
cide was due to a secret contract with the brewers, by which 
he had agreed to get the mothers of {he country to raise 
more sons in order that the brewers might have a 
larger market for their beer. She undoubtedly was sincere, 
but a type of mind that would conceive, believe and propa¬ 
gate such a notion is neither wholesome, scientific nor in¬ 
tellectually honest. It becomes a positive menace. The 
way to avoid this is to emphasize the importance of evi¬ 
dence, to keep open-minded, to be reasonable in judgment, 
and to develop a saving sense of humor. 

We come now to consider the evolutionary point of view. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


5? 


This means that our ideas of truth and life are relative 
and that they change and enlarge with our expanding wis¬ 
dom and increasing experience. This view regards society 
and government as a constant process of development or 
evolution in which is found the ceaseless operation of the 
law of cause and effect. In such a conception, government 
is not an end of human endeavor, but a mere means to the 
realization of mankind's higher destiny. 

The necessity for the development of the evolutionary 
point of view as a part of civic training and the development 
of patriotic sentiment, is to be found in the evils of the 
static mind. This type of mind is possessed by the stand¬ 
patter. It does not recognize growth, development or evolu¬ 
tion as essential. Its ideas are fixed, static, bigoted. It 
considers existing ideas and conceptions as entirely adequate 
and correct, and rejects the evidence of new experience 
and more developed vision as dangerous and necessarily 
incorrect. 

The development of the juvenile court movement in this 
country affords a tragic example of the operation of a static 
mind. Our criminal jurisprudence was developed very 
largely out of a retributive or vengeance theory of punish^ 
ment. It assumed all criminal acts to be intentional, wilful 
violations of the moral or criminal law, for which no one 
was responsible save the wrongdoer, and upon whom society 
should wreak vengeance, in order to satisfy and keep alive 
the retributive impulse or tendency, and incidentally, to re¬ 
strain crime by making evil-doing a poor bargain to the doer. 

With the industrial revolution, the growth of great cities, 
the disappearance of apprenticeships, and the coming of 
the city slums, this extremely individualistic theory seemed 
to operate with unnecessary harshness and injustice in cer¬ 
tain cases, especially when juvenile offenses were con¬ 
cerned. In the case of children, reared in hopeless city tene-j 


54 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


ments, surrounded by vice and immorality, where their only 
heroes were likely to be the successful sneak thief or the 
painted woman of the streets, it seemed that their criminal 
tendencies were frequently the inevitable product of early 
training and environment, for which they were not morally 
to blame, but for which the community itself should answer. 
JTo take these young offenders, because they had copied the 
only life they knew and learned to violate the law, and 
lock them up for long sentences with hardened criminals, 
seemed not only unjust but unwise. It seemed unjust, for 
in many cases they could not be subject to moral blame. 
It seemed unwise, because the experience, during the plastic 
years of youth, of being imprisoned with adult criminals, 
seemed almost sure to condemn them to a life of crime, 
while to treat them as pathological cases for investigation 
and correction, seemed to afford better security against their 
depredations in the future. 

The concrete operation of the theory was well illustrated 
in a western state where a juvenile court law had been es¬ 
tablished. The facts are given below as reported by the 
judge who tried the case. A young lad with nameless par¬ 
entage was a “hanger-on” in a saloon. A bright gamin of 
the street, he won the affectionate regard of those who knew 
him. The saloon was his home where Jfe rendered such ser¬ 
vices a young lad might, and received in turn the alms of 
its patrons. He frequently delivered drinks to private resi¬ 
dences. Having done so on one occasion, and having been 
given a generous drink by the woman to whom delivery had 
been made, he became intoxicated and threw a rock through 
a window in the home. The woman had him arrested. Under 
the old law this lad might have been imprisoned for a con¬ 
siderable period, with hardened criminals, for malicious 
trespass. 

But under the juvenile court act the procedure was 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


55 


different. He was brought before the juvenile court. The 
judge had a probation officer investigate the circumstances 
of the youth’s life, as well as the facts in the case. The 
whole investigation resulted in the trial, conviction and 
punishment of the woman and the bartender for contributing 
to the delinquency of a youth, and the location of the boy 
in a good home, where he rapidly responded to the in¬ 
fluences of the new environment and subsequently became a 
successful probation officer of the court. 

It would be difficult to find a cause that would seem 
easier to plead at the bar of public opinion. Here certainly 
was a vital institutional change that afforded a splendid 
appeal to the parental and pugnacious instincts. But despite 
that fact progress was slow and success frequently un¬ 
certain. The difficulty lay in the fact that the proposed 
change encountered the static mind. The change ran counter 
to two “rule of thumb” precepts that most people regarded 
as fixed and eternal. These two precepts were “spare the 
rod and spoil the child” and “an eye for an eye and a tooth 
for a tooth.” The static mind loves its precepts more than 
it loves truth and humanity. Consequently the public 
hardened their hearts to the appeal when they saw a conflict 
with established precept. They thought more of their the¬ 
ories than they did of their children. The change could not 
take place until by a long and patient process these precepts 
were limited or undermined, and the public thus freed from 
the tyranny of phrases. It is thus evident that the develop¬ 
ment of instincts and emotions, if it be effective, implies the 
training of the intellect into proper habits of thought and ac¬ 
tion. No more formidable obstacle can be imposed to impede 
the progress of society, than the habitual bigotry of the static 
mind. 

Another example is found in the campaign in Chicago 
prior to 1904 for the abolition of the justice of the peace 


56 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


courts in that city, commonly known as “justice shops/’ 
Because of the peculiar legal and constitutional provision of 
Illinois, some of the “justice shops” of Chicago were notori¬ 
ous for corruption and tyranny. There grew up the brazen 
and corrupt practise by which certain alleged collection 
agencies would enter into a corrupt bargain with some of 
the justices of the peace. The justices would make out copies 
of blank judgments and executions, signed and stamped 
by the courts, and sell them by the hundreds to these agen¬ 
cies. They would fill in the names of the poor and ignorant 
in these false papers, fill in the amount of the fake judgment, 
and give them to a corrupt constable who would serve the 
papers and collect the money specified therein. If the poor 
ignorant victim did not pay, his goods were seized and sold, 
and the robbery was made complete under the forms of law. 
This was done, though the poor victim had never been in 
court and never owed a cent. 

If the victim were intelligent enough he realized that he 
had redress in the county or circuit court in a suit at law. 
But such a suit took time and money, and frequently cost 
the plaintiff more than he had lost. Also the offending 
constable was frequently a worthless individual, with no 
property, and against whom a judgment would be impotent. 
In 1904 there was one constable agajfist whom over fifty 
indictments were pending, and against whom suits totaling 
over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars had been filed. 

As a result of this pernicious system, justice was bought 
and sold at the expense of the poor and ignorant. Their 
homes were invaded, their scant savings dissipated, their 
property was stolen. This had gone on for years. The news¬ 
papers and magazines joined in occasional crusades against 
these inhuman practises. Voluntary and civic bodies made 
elaborate investigations, published the results, and demanded 
immediate and adequate reforms. The files of the Chicago 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


5 7 


papers prior to 1904 contain repeated stories of these ter¬ 
rible abuses. The Cook County Grand Jury time and time 
again called attention to the situation and demanded appro¬ 
priate action. 

In the meanwhile the evils were continuing in the face 
of an informed but an apparently indifferent public. The 
poor people of Chicago, whose conceptions of our courts of 
justice were mainly confined to their experiences in these 
“justice shops,” were being trained in a school of bitter 
experience that would produce only contempt for law and 
justice. 

Here was a case where the whole controversy necessarily 
depended upon an effective appeal to the generous emotions. 
No selfish appeal would be effective, since the intelligent 
members of the community, who wielded political power, 
escaped the evils of the system. The fraudulent collection 
agencies were too shrewd to attack any save the hopelessly 
ignorant. Should one desire to use a justice court on legiti¬ 
mate business, there were many justices of the peace who 
were efficient and trustworthy, and one could take his 
choice. Only an appeal to the social instincts, therefore, 
could produce the required results. 

The circumstances certainly afforded ample basis for the 
appeal. But it encountered the static mind, and the tyranny 
of an established phrase. The justice court had been known 
for time immemorial as the “poor man's court” because of 
the pettiness of its jurisdiction and the simplicity of its pro¬ 
cedure. When its abolition in Chicago was advocated and 
the establishment of the municipal court was proposed, it 
encountered a tremendous obstacle. To abolish the “poor 
man’s court” seemed to the unthinking and the uninformed 
a deliberate thrust at the rights and prerogatives of the 
unfortunate poor. It was true that the municipal court was 
to have, among other things, the simplicity of procedure and 


58 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


the petty jurisdiction that had given the justice court its 
peculiar name. It was also true that the prime purpose in 
supplanting the “justice shop” with the municipal court was 
to protect the poor and ignorant against intolerable abuse 
and tyranny. The remarkable and conspicuous success 
achieved by the new judiciary bears enduring evidence to 
the keen foresight and statesmanship of those who 
founded it. 

Despite these facts, public opinion was successfully ral¬ 
lied to the defense of the “poor man’s court.” Intelligent 
men refused to think but accepted blindly the influence of 
an established phrase. The very men who were being 
exploited rallied to the defense of the instrument of their 
oppression. For a considerable time the most popular and 
potent argument against the change was the influence of 
this single phrase. Thus they sacrified substance for form, 
justice for a tradition, and reality for a name. Thus the 
static mind barred the possible inlet into the instinctive 
life that alone could yield results. Finally it was broken 
jiown and the reform splendidly and constructively 
achieved, but had the leadership been less intelligent, indus¬ 
trious and determined, it would have failed. 

It must not be supposed that the evils of the static mind 
are restricted to the conservative. It As frequently found 
in its most pernicious forms among the radicals. The 
slavish worship of trite phrases and the substitution of 
panaceas for critical and constructive thought, is a common 
fcrror among the ranks of radicals. The naive dependence 
upon the maxim that “the remedy for the evils of democracy 
is more democracy” is an excellent case in point. Innu¬ 
merable instances may be cited where men have staked all 
their hope of social progress upon some particular reform 
such as proportional representation, the single tax or a 
particular brand of socialism. Not only that, but instances 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


59 


may be cited where socialistic legislators have actually op¬ 
posed remedial legislation, though admitting its efficiency, 
because it was not consistent with a theory, or might weaken 
their party's power. In such a case theories are given a 
greater value than life, and party strength is preferred to 
social progress. 

Perhaps a warning should be given here against the idea; 
that the alternative to a static mind is the creation of a 
desire for change. Nothing could be further from the 
truth, though it is an easy mistake to make. The remedy 
is not a mind predisposed to change, but predisposed to 
observe critically, to analyze accurately and to think sanely. 

Another common manifestation of the evils of a static 
mind is found in the failure of many to regard government 
as a means to an end. They think of it only as an end 
within itself. To such a person the primary purpose of 
government is to preserve itself in its existing particulars. 
Any change is to be vigorously opposed, therefore, regard¬ 
less of its merits. The true purpose of government, how¬ 
ever, is generally conceived to be to serve the highest 
interests of its people and of humanity, and the test of any 
proposed change is its effectiveness in the accomplishment 
of this great end. Its purpose is not to vindicate any set 
principles of government but to serve mankind. 

In a small city in the Middle West a group of intelligent 
leaders became interested in the project of establishing 
supervised playgrounds and recreational opportunities for 
all the children in the city. It was a backward community 
and there was much to be accomplished. The general moral 
and social conditions among the children were discourag¬ 
ing. Young boys frequented questionable places of amuse¬ 
ment, and the evidences of general moral delinquency were 
startling. A comprehensive program was planned which 
would make it possible to reach every child in the public 


60 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


school, and continuous service was arranged during the 
summer when the loitering children most needed such 
attention. 

In the course of time the plan became involved in the 
fortunes of local politics, and it became an issue in a public 
election. There were arrayed against it such special inter¬ 
ests as the saloons and the pool-rooms, but the measure 
seemed assured of popular support, until an opponent dis¬ 
covered one day that the plan was “socialistic.” That was 
the argument that defeated it. It is improbable that many 
of the persons in the city had any definite idea as to what 
it meant to be “socialistic,” or as to whether the proposed 
program could be honestly so described. That was not 
essential. In the minds of many it was the prime function 
of the community to kill anything called “socialistic” and to 
that end the community quite cheerfully sacrificed the moral 
and physical well-being of the children. They misappre¬ 
hended the real and only purpose of government. They 
determined their action by a false and inadequate standard 
of values. The only legitimate question before them was 
whether or not the proposed program was a sane and effec¬ 
tive means of helping their boys and girls, and of serving 
the highest interests of their community. Until they are 
able to analyze this fundamental issue and to apply a stand¬ 
ard of real values, they are not prepared for the intelligent 
performance of civic duty. 

How may this evolutionary point of view be developed? 
( The illustrations of the operation of the static mind should 
afford some suggestions, for the student having the problem 
vividly presented to him will at once be interested in its 
solution. The instinct of curiosity should be continuously 
employed by the use of suggestive questions and the setting 
of problems. Nothing should ever be studied, no institution 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


61 


considered, without inquiring as to the facts and conditions 
that gave it birth. 

In the early part of this chapter the question of the theory 
of democracy held by the fathers was suggested as an 
excellent problem for training the student in critical obser¬ 
vation. Having come to his conclusions, then ask him from 
whence those theories come. What experiences and con¬ 
ceptions produced them? What are the present theories of 
democracy? What are the changes? What tendencies or 
forces caused the changes? 

In like manner let him trace through the conception of 
liberty, as used in the revolutionary days, and compare it 
with liberty as used to-day. Take the conception of suf¬ 
frage, at first granted only to a very small and select class 
of adult males, and now granted to all normal persons of 
adult years. Why has it been done ? What forces produced 
it ? What tendencies are thus exhibited ? The student soon 
gets the idea that things are relative; that a conception that 
seemed adequate and true a century ago, no longer holds, 
and what we honestly believe to-day may be discarded in 
the light of new experiences and clearer vision on the mor¬ 
row. A student so trained will have a reasonably sure 
insurance against bigotry and excessive credulity. 

No more fascinating problem can be set the boy or girl 
than the tracing out of cause and effect in the development 
of the life of the community, national and local. And yet 
how rarely is this adopted as the habitual method of instruc¬ 
tion ? The study of local rural government affords a splen¬ 
did opportunity. How many children have received the 
impression that the New England town meeting was 
adopted by the Puritans of New England as a result of 
their love of liberty, while the county commissioner sys¬ 
tem, prevailing in the South, was due to a disdain for 


62 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


liberty, that might be expected from a people who were 
a little tardy in their conversion to the gospel of emancipa¬ 
tion. Yet this cheap exploitation of sectional prejudice has 
been by no means uncommon. 

How much more instructive and effective it would be to 
call attention to the different types found in the different 
sections, and set the problem of explaining how the two dif¬ 
ferent types happened to develop as they did. The student 
would learn that the Puritans of New England found them¬ 
selves surrounded by hostile Indians, the land unsuited to 
agriculture, and commerce and manufacturing the main 
occupations. The result was that they lived together in the 
stockades for safety, and had no occasion to scatter out on 
farms or plantations. Living together under such circum¬ 
stances it was inevitable that their simple problems of com¬ 
munity life should be discussed and settled in local meetings. 
It was not a matter of conviction to the cause of liberty, 
but an obvious convenience under the circumstances of 
the case. 

On the other hand, in the South the situation was just 
the opposite. The land was well suited to agriculture, the 
natural system of waterways enabled the settlers to scatter 
far throughout the land, and the friendly character of the 
Indians made possible the isolated life upon the plantation. 
Under these conditions community business could only be 
conveniently transacted by the representatives of the people, 
meeting at a central place. A town meeting would be highly 
inconvenient and impractical, if not impossible. This trac¬ 
ing of cause and effect is not only a fascinating problem, it 
is the only method that makes history and government real 
and vivid, that presents a true perspective and develops the 
evolutionary point of view. 

The absolute reversal of governmental theory that 
occurred among the fathers in the short period intervening 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


63 


between the drafting of the Articles of Confederation and 
the adoption of the Federal Constitution presents a striking 
opportunity for the employment of the problem method. 
Under the Articles of Confederation there was no central 
government, no executive, no authority. The people, im¬ 
pressed by the British conflict between Parliament and the 
Crown, were skeptical of executive power. They viewed 
with suspicion any proposal for a central government lest 
it impair the right of the colonies and the liberties of the 
individual. But only a few years later the same people 
ratified the Federal Constitution, creating one of the strong¬ 
est executive positions at the head of government to be 
found anywhere, giving the central government full and 
plenary power over foreign affairs, military and naval mat¬ 
ters, interstate and foreign commerce, and many other 
matters of general concern. Moreover they conferred upon 
the central government adequate authority to enforce what¬ 
ever powers the Constitution had conferred upon it. 

This direct and sudden reversal of policy presents an 
interesting problem that can not help but arouse the interest 
and enthusiasm of the class. Its solution will be found in 
the experience of the colonies under the Articles of Con¬ 
federation. There is a fascinating story of the hostile com¬ 
petition between the thirteen original and discordant col¬ 
onies. Naturally suspicious, they vied with one another, 
with competitive zeal, in the shirking and evasion of the 
taxes, and other duties levied upon them by the Continental 
Congress, and violated any treaty that might be made when 
it seemed to their advantage so to do. Each state, trying to 
gain wealth at the expense of its neighbor, levied excessive 
duties and erected discriminating barriers. Moreover, there 
were controversies over boundary lines and land claims 
that threatened serious bloodshed. 

The result was that the public peace was threatened, com- 


64 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


merce was impeded, treaties were flouted, national debts 
were unpaid, and national dishonor threatened. Intrigue* 
selfishness and disorder seemed the order of the day. The 
evils had to be corrected. Order had to follow chaos. The 
national honor had to be preserved and public obligations 
paid. Commerce between the states had to be free and un¬ 
restrained. Its regulations had to be uniform and impartial 
between the states. The military and naval forces had to 
be placed under centralized authority, and dependent upon 
the power of government, rather than upon voluntary offer¬ 
ings, in order to be efficient. 

However much the fathers may have been devoted to 
theory, above all things they were practical. The reversal 
of governmental theory was the inevitable result of the 
teachings of practical experience. When their theories did 
not work, they were wise enough to abandon them. In 
spite of the obvious opportunity afforded by this incident 
in our constitutional history, in a group of some fifty 
teachers of civics recently, not a single teacher had ever 
thought of utilizing it. Is it any wonder that we develop 
static minds, that civics is uninteresting, or that civic train¬ 
ing is inadequate ? 

The writer has visited the classes in civics of a teacher 
who approaches all the important topics of civics, both con¬ 
temporary and historical, with the problem method and 
from this point of view. This teacher has never had diffi¬ 
culty with the problem of interest or attention. In working 
out the solutions to these problems, the students have 
learned to use all the information at their command, as well 
as their own observation and experience. The recitation 
room is a laboratory to which every student brings the 
materials of his information and thought to be carefully 
worked over by the teacher and the group. The writer has 
never seen such instincts of curiosity as this class disclosed. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


65 


Superficial explanations did not suffice. They handled their 
materials with a self-confidence and an interest that seemed 
nothing short of remarkable. They were a group of 
thinkers, and were receiving the exact training that every 
citizen ought to have. What can be done with this class 
can be done with other classes, whenever we can get 
teachers with background, with imagination, and with a 
deep sense of responsibility, to do the work. 

The development of critical habits of thought and the 
evolutionary point of view bring with them a valuable by¬ 
product that is most important—a love for the thing that 
we call truth. No student can be directed along these habits 
of thought, in the daily effort to discover the realities of 
life, in which their discovery is made the immediate object 
of their effort and the measure of their success, without 
developing a genuine appreciation and attachment for truth. 
Habits of intellectual honesty become established, which 
will have a deep personal as well as social significance. 

The development of these intellectual traits, as a neces¬ 
sary part of civic training, should now seem obvious in the 
light of the illustrations afforded by our political history. 
One might have the most marvelous instinctive develop¬ 
ment, the finest and most generous emotions, the keenest 
native intellect, but, unless one also has the capacity to see 
life as it is, to interpret and understand its unfolding truths, 
to analyze the confusing evidence and to keep his head clear 
amid the glamour and confusion of party strife, he might 
still fall an unwilling prey to the demagogue’s persua¬ 
sive pleas. 

The political contests into which our young citizens are 
emerging promise now to be the most bitter that America 
has ever seen. The stakes will be larger. The leaders will 
be more determined. Issues will be presented in the con¬ 
fused and delusive light of class and economic bias. In the 


66 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


tempestuous storm that we see approaching, the pressure 
will be tremendous. Short-cut solutions to fundamental 
problems will be urged. New conceptions and values will 
be pressed for consideration and adoption. In the midst of 
these perplexing problems, the citizen of the future must 
be prepared to find his way. With keen and accurate 
analysis he must penetrate the confusing issues, he must 
discover the real and fundamental difficulty, and with a clear 
head and an open mind, he must struggle with the gigantic 
problem of their just and equitable solution. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. In a presidential campaign one of the candidates continually 
declared that the fundamental issue was “shall the people rule.” 
Criticize in detail the statement. What harm might such an issue do ? 

2. Illustrate how a vigorous emotional life may become a menace 
to a democracy unless accompanied by the proper intellectual equip¬ 
ment. 

3. Trace the organic relation between habits of critical observa¬ 
tion and the utilization of the social instincts as an important factor 
in democracy. 

4. Give your own analysis of the prolonged failure of public 
opinion to respond to the movement for the juvenile court. What 
suggestions can you offer in connection with our present training in 
the public school that will make the future citizen grapple with 
similar problems in a more effective manner? 

5. In the teaching of history, civics, literature and similar sub¬ 
jects, how may we imbue the student with a profound faith in truth, 
and in humanity, without at the same time developing credulity. 

6. If you wanted to teach the Civil War by the problem method, 
what specific problems would you suggest? What benefits would 
you expect to gain from this method? 

7. How important is the instinct of curiosity in teaching? How 
may it best be utilized ? How do you go about, consciously, to utilize 
it in your teaching? 

8. What evils of the static mind have you encountered the most 
in the school-room? How do you seek to correct the fundamental 
difficulty? 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


67 


9. What examples of the bigotry of the static mind have come to 
your attention in public life? How harmful have they been? 

10. Why can not the best results in teaching social science always 
be secured by the problem method? What are the difficulties? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Gettell, Raymond G., Problems in Political Evolution (Ginn & Co., 
1914). 

Chapter I, “The Evolution of the State.” 

Chapter II, “Influence Affecting Political Evolution.” 

Lowell, A. Lawrence, Public Opinion and Popular Government 
(Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1913). 

Part I, “The Nature of Public Opinion.” 

Coman, Katherine, Industrial History of the United States (Mac¬ 
millan Company, New York, 1913). 

Bryce, James, The American Commonwealth (Macmillan Company, 
New York, 1907). 

Volume II, Part IV, “Public Opinion.” 

Smith, Reginald H., Justice and the Poor (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 
New York, 1919). 

Wallas, Graham, Human Nature in Politics (Houghton, Mifflin 
Company, Boston, 1919). 

Part II, “Possibilities of Progress.” 

Eliot, Thomas D., The Juvenile Court and the Community (Mac¬ 
millan Company, New York, 1914). 

Aronovici, Carol, The Social Survey (Harper Press, Philadelphia, 
1916). 

Note: The value of most of the references cited above is that 
they will furnish additional illustrative material. 


CHAPTER IV 


THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF GOVERNMENT 

I N THE stress and strain of reconstruction, with its om¬ 
inous spirit of unrest, its radical and revolutionary ten¬ 
dencies, and its spirit of challenge to the very foundations 
of society, the evolutionary point of view is increasingly to 
be desired. A long time view of government, as a process of 
social evolution, is the only adequate safeguard against the 
myopic attitude induced by the intensity of immediate prob¬ 
lems. Moreover, the evolutionary view-point affords the 
only intelligent basis for the accurate formulation of a po¬ 
litical theory and the solution of social problems. 

This view-point, however, can not be imparted at the 
teacher’s will. It can not be convincingly established as a 
problem in formal logic or a demonstration in mathematics. 
To be effective it must become a habit of thought, a point 
of view whose foundations are deeply imbedded in habits 
and experiences. Like the technique of a musician, it must 
become an automatic practise—the established, unquestioned 
method of procedure. Unlike the musician’s technique, 
however, it generally can not be formally presented nor 
consciously acquired. This difficulty should be frankly 
recognized, and the hope of the immediate conversion of 
the pupil to this point of view should be abandoned. It 
may be accurately explained to the pupil. The concept may 
be accepted as proper, and may merit his approval even, 
but it does not become effective until he has acquired the 
habit of thinking in those terms, and has accumulated ex¬ 
periences, garnered through that method of approach, 

68 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


69 


This evolutionary point of view must, then, become a 
habit, fastened upon the pupil’s intellectual life by its con¬ 
tinuous and persistent repetition. I have seen teachers who 
rendered lip service to the idea, and who sincerely believed 
that they practised it effectively. At the beginning of the 
course in civics, they would carefully explain it, and follow 
it up by a few orthodox illustrations, and then proceed with 
the remainder of the work in its flagrant, though uncon¬ 
scious, violation. I once heard a teacher make a convincing 
exposition of the evolutionary point of view in the begin¬ 
ning of the course, and then proceed directly from that 
splendid beginning, to an uncritical discussion of the Federal 
Constitution, using the famous phrase of Gladstone in 
describing it as “the most wonderful work ever struck off 
at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.” She 
accepted these words at their face value, and construed them 
to imply that our organic law was not the product of ex¬ 
perience, but a production, de novo, from the inspired genius 
of its framers. 

To this teacher the evolutionary conception, or point of 
view, was only an isolated bit of academic theory, to be 
memorized but not applied. The result was a fundamental 
misconception of the nature of human progress, the loss 
of opportunity to make the topic a group of problems of 
unceasing interest and fascination, and the development 
in the child of a static attitude toward life and truth. 

The topic of this chapter may not seem to have any special 
value or utility to those engaged in secondary education. 
Many will doubtless think it more appropriate for work of a 
collegiate or university character. From the view-point of 
content alone, this may perhaps be true. But in training 
citizenship, subject-matter and information are relatively 
unimportant. The thing we are interested in is the boy 
or girl. Their mental and moral development is the great 


70 DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 

object of civic education. Civics, history, community study 
and the other parts of the curriculum, are but means to 
this definite end. That being the case, we should choose 
those subjects and topics which are best suited to the task 
at hand. 

For that reason, any discussion of government, politics, 
or society, might very profitably be introduced with the con¬ 
sideration of the present topic. The “taking for granted” 
attitude regarding organized society is extremely unfortu¬ 
nate. It permits and encourages the static conceptions of 
social origins. With this method, the student inevitably 
comes to his study of society with the idea that it is a 
machine, rather than a process; that it has been created 
rather than evolved. It naturally follows that the machinery 
of society is the center of attention. If there are social and 
economic ills, merely mend or repair the machine, and 
presto! the ills are gone. Panaceas are seized with great 
.avidity, because they seem to bring perfection to the social 
organism. Reckless and impossible promises of demagogues 
are credulously accepted, because changes in governmental 
forms may be so easily perfected. 

Because of these factors, the hope and altruistic enthu¬ 
siasm of each generation tends to be squandered upon im¬ 
possible desires and Utopian programs. The agitation for 
the Australian ballot affords an excellent example. Its ad¬ 
vocates contended that with its adoption the problem of 
democracy was solved. It was a tremendously important 
step, amply justified by subsequent experience, but it never 
began to accomplish the wonders so buoyantly prophesied. 
By concentrating their hopes and intentions so completely 
on this one reform, other matters of equally great im¬ 
portance were ignored, while the fundamental problem of 
civic training, as the only enduring basis of efficient democ¬ 
racy, was practically forgotten. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


71 


These conditions are inevitable, as long as our people 
are allowed to hold the static, mechanistic conception of 
government and society. If everybody were brought to see 
the truth, at the beginning, a different attitude would in¬ 
evitably result. If the student realized that organized so¬ 
ciety was a slow and patient process of social evolution, 
operating throughout the ages; that the ideal and spirit of 
democracy have slowly and painfully evolved through 
centuries of human struggle; and that our own institutions 
of society are the products of generations of trial and error, 
in which our mightiest intellects and most courageous leaders 
have shown the way, they would sooner realize the 
impotence of panaceas, would waste less energy in the 
pursuits of political “cure-alls,” and would recognize the 
profound and fundamental character of the problems of 
democracy. 

Nor would they necessarily become discouraged by the 
magnitude of the problem nor the slowness of its solution, 
for with the evolutionary approach, with the careful study 
of the forces of human development, there comes a profound 
faith in the ultimate progress of humanity. Such progress 
may be slow, but it is inevitable, and it affords an alluring 
appeal to those who will, to devote their zeal to the upward 
struggle. 

The effect of the artificial or mechanistic conception of 
the state is reflected in many of the suggested explanations 
of its origin, such as the theory of the social compact. This 
theory is that the state originated in formal agreement. 
People lived in anarchy or chaos until they entered into an 
agreement to create a state or government. This theory has 
been widely accepted, although a moment's critical consider¬ 
ation demonstrates its fallacy. In the first place, historic 
evidence of the theory is absolutely lacking. Secondly, the 
theory assumes the conscious idea of political organization 


72 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


instead of explaining its source. As explaining the origin 
of organized society, it is, therefore, necessarily wholly in¬ 
adequate. Finally, history affords no evidence of the rela¬ 
tionship between the state and the individual being con¬ 
tractual, which would indicate very strongly that the state 
did not originate with agreement. 

In spite of these facts the theory has at times been widely 
held. It rendered valuable service at the time of the Ameri¬ 
can Revolution, when much of the ethical justification of 
revolution was drawn from the premises afforded by the 
compact theory. It has indirectly served a useful purpose, 
also, in that it tended to emphasize the fact that government 
should exist for the benefit of the governed, which is sound 
American doctrine to-day. 

On the other hand it has worked no little harm. It has 
given us a conception of individual rights that tends to be 
too static and absolute. Such conceptions have blocked 
progress and impeded development. The temperance pro¬ 
gram, the prohibition of child labor, the effective regulation 
of monopoly, have all been greatly retarded because of 
the popular conceptions of private rights as dogmatic and 
absolute concepts, with which nothing should be permitted 
to interfere. Individual liberty and private right are the 
most precious possessions of our people. But their content 
is relative, not absolute. Their very preservation depends 
upon our ability to adjust them to the evolving needs and 
conditions of our national life. 

A conception of liberty which insisted upon the inalien¬ 
able right of the child of tender years to sacrifice education, 
youth, health and character for a weekly wage, is a mockery 
of justice, while a conception that sought to preserve liberty 
of conscience, freedom of speech, and adequate safeguards 
against arbitrary and despotic power, is indispensable to 
democratic institutions. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


73 


Another false account of the origin of organized society, 
springing from the mechanistic conception of the state, is 
the doctrine of divine right, that governments were estab¬ 
lished by rulers who received their authority and power 
from God. While this doctrine has recently received start¬ 
ling support from the German emperor, it has long since 
been repudiated by democratic peoples. 

These and other impossible explanations of the origin of 
the organized state, are the products of a false attitude 
toward society. There is always the tendency to make it 
too conventional and too simple. The truth is that the origin 
of society can not be traced to any single cause or force. 
It is a complex of many forces, natural and spiritual, that 
have operated throughout the centuries, each force and 
century contributing its increment to the dawning conscious¬ 
ness of political life. 

The historical or evolutionary theory of the state is the 
one now generally accepted. It regards the state as the 
inevitable product of the reactions of the human instincts 
to the environment of nature. The instincts were the moti¬ 
vating forces, and the environment provided the conditions 
under which the struggles for the satisfaction of instinctive 
wants were fought. Conditions were such, that in time these 
wants could only be adequately supplied by some rude form 
of cooperative effort, and thus unwittingly the basis of 
political life was being laid. Professor Burgess has given 
an excellent statement of the theory. “It means,” he writes, 
“to go a little deeper into the psychology of the subject, that 
it is the gradual realization, in legal institutions, of the uni¬ 
versal principles of human nature, and the gradual subor¬ 
dination of the individual side of that nature to the universal 
side.” In other words, individual interests gradually were 
subordinated to the necessities of the cooperative effort de¬ 
manded in the struggle for existence. 


74 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


This process becorhes more significant and obvious as 
we trace in rude outline the various stages in the develop¬ 
ment of political organization. Professor Dealey has for 
the sake of convenience, treated this development as com¬ 
prised of four stages, the formative period, the period of 
settled social institutions, the period of urban civilization, 
and the period of industrial civilization.* Since this de¬ 
velopment has been largely conditioned upon the economic 
factors in the environment, economic periods were adopted 
as the basis. This classification will be followed here in 
our discussion. 

In the early part of this period man was doubtless little 
removed from the other animals in his manner of life. There 
could have been no political consciousness, no cooperative 
effort, no exercise of forethought. Complete dependence 
must have been placed upon the bounty of nature for food 
and nourishment. Property and law in their most ele¬ 
mentary forms had not yet appeared. Whatever family 
life there was, was of the natural matriarchal type. 

From these rude conditions, man’s capacity to learn, to 
generalize from observation, and to profit by experience, 
enabled him to develop the beginnings of social and politi¬ 
cal life. Desire to satisfy instinctive want, in which hunger 
may have played a dominant role, provided the dynamic 
power. The pangs of hunger stimulated dormant intellect, 
and hunting was evolved as an additional method of secur¬ 
ing food. With the development of primitive arms and 
tools, there began to dawn the idea of private property, 
though property in land was yet unknown. As hunting 
developed, there ensued competition for the better hunting- 
grounds, and thus there arose another need of forming 
into groups, in this case for the protection of the better 


*Dealey, J. Q., The Development of the State, Chap. II. 



DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


75 


hunting lands, against the aggressions of competing foes. 
When there were more interests to be protected, the ad¬ 
vantages of cooperative effort for defense were obvious, 
even to the most primitive of intellects. 

Thus men united in loosely organized groups, frequently 
called hordes, brought together primarily for the purpose of 
obtaining food, and providing for mutual offense and de¬ 
fense. These forces were supplemented by the more primi¬ 
tive of the social instincts. In such groups leadership, 
authority, custom and similar notions, in their most ele¬ 
mentary form, were necessarily developed. But a civiliza¬ 
tion, resting upon an economic basis so insecure, could not 
develop great strength, endurance or permanency. Con¬ 
sequently their conceptions of property, custom and political 
organization were necessarily vague, uncertain and indefi¬ 
nite. 

In reaching the second period, characterized by the de¬ 
velopment of settled social and political institutions, the 
same fundamental principles seemed to have prevailed. It 
was the same old process of subordinating individual caprice 
to the necessities of cooperative effort. Customs, laws, 
authority and institutions did not develop except by degrees, 
and to the extent that the contending masses of humanity 
found them useful aids in their struggle for existence. 

One very important step, doubtless, was the discovery 
that animals might be domesticated. Thus, by the exercise 
of forethought and self-denial, men found they could pro-; 
tect themselves against the days of scarcity. The effect of j 
such discovery upon the methods of life and organization 
was fundamental. The flocks of domesticated animals be¬ 
came tribal property, which brought individuals into much 
closer relations, by increasing the immediate interest and 
stake that the individual enjoyed in the strength and wealth 
of the group. Transient hordes thus became permanently 


76 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


and closely united by the joint possession of a common food 
supply. 

In addition, the possession of such wealth aroused the 
envy and anger of hungry neighbors. The struggles for 
defense became proportionately more bitter. This required 
greater group efficiency for defense, and this necessitated 
stronger leadership, more definite authority, and greater 
individual subordination. Group boundaries became more 
definite, and the sense of group interests more firmly estab¬ 
lished. Custom and laws, tending to increase the strength 
and efficiency of the group, became established as the com¬ 
munity of interest became more obvious, through the exist¬ 
ence of common property, common needs and common foes. 

In such a civilization, with an accumulated food supply, 
there came moments of leisure, when the social and spiritual 
instincts of the race could find opportunity for primitive 
expression. Art, religion and similar interests began to be 
expressed, and moral conceptions to develop. 

An interesting observation has been reported, which brings 
home with unusual vividness the degree to which individual 
rights were subjected to group interests. It is said that in 
some of the primitive communities, it became the fixed cus¬ 
tom for mothers to murder their female babies. In the 
savage warfare developed between the various groups, wo¬ 
men were not useful. If a community had too many women, 
it would be captured and eaten, or subjected to slavery by 
competing groups whose membership contained a higher 
percentage of warriors. To meet this condition, the rule 
of female infanticide was adopted. Doubtless the mother’s 
love for her offspring was as strong then as it is to-day, 
but it had to give way to the larger interests of the com¬ 
munity. The identification of the individual’s welfare with 
that of the community under the simple but strenuous life 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 7? 

that then prevailed, was so obvious and the necessity for 
the rule so clear, that obedience was secured. 

Herein lies, in part, the secret of respect for law, tradi¬ 
tion and authority, that has prevailed from time to time 
among uncivilized societies. Conditions were so simple that 
the necessity for laws and their obedience, as a measure of 
self-protection, were apparent. In the complicated society 
of to-day, the relations between self-interests and community 
welfare are no longer so direct and obvious, though clearly 
equal in importance. Genuine respect for law and order 
did not originate in moral preachments upon the subject, 
but out of a keen realization of its imperative necessity to 
individual and community well-being. It does not seem 
unreasonable to suppose, therefore, that the same thing 
holds true to-day. Reverence for law and order will come 
now, only as it did originally, when we have made its im¬ 
portance clear to every mind. In the complicated conditions 
of to-day, it presents a more difficult problem and can be 
solved only by educational efforts. Train the child to see 
the human significance of government, what its failure or 
success may mean to him and to his loved ones, and let him 
be brought to the vivid realization that law, authority and 
government are but the instruments through which society 
cooperates for human betterment and progress. Obedience 
to law and order then becomes a mere matter of effective 
cooperation, and not a blind submission to authority. Out 
of this process and understanding may come a profound re¬ 
spect for established order as a conscious instrument of 
progress. 

Returning now to the question of the development of 
primitive society, perhaps the most important single factor 
after the domestication of animals, in rounding out the de¬ 
velopment of the period of settled social institutions, was 


78 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


the advent of agriculture. This gave a great impetus to 
the growth of civilization. It may be supposed that the 
pressure of increasing population, the difficulty of finding 
adequate grazing lands for the expanding flocks, and the 
desire to vary the diet composed so largely of flesh, all 
combined to bring about the development of agriculture, 
as a necessary means of economic support. 

The social and political consequences of this development 
were enormous. People were not willing to sow unless they 
had some assurance that they might also reap. This meant 
the definite group ownership of definite lands with fixed 
and definite boundaries. It meant still greater interest in 
the methods of defense and offense. It meant more highly 
organized effort, and the beginning of the division of labor. 
The increased productive capacity of agriculture resulted 
in an increased density of population. Competition for the 
possession of the best agricultural lands also increased the 
necessity for more effective military efforts. 

The inevitable result of all of these centralizing and stabil¬ 
izing forces was the slow evolution of the horde into the 
more complex and highly organized group commonly called 
the tribe. This change may have taken countless centuries, 
for the primitive peoples learned slowly, and there are some 
backward peoples on the earth to-day who have not even yet 
reached the period we are here trying to describe. 

These conditions, and the continuous wars that accom¬ 
panied them, still further defined the notions of authority, 
law, order and obedience. Warfare required leaders with 
authority who might compel obedience. The increasing 
density of population brought on new possibilities of friction 
between individuals, which required the development of 
laws, customs and tradition, and the recognition of estab¬ 
lished authority within the tribe. 

The development of morals, supported by the public opin- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


79 


ion of the group, followed the obvious need of tribal war¬ 
fare. Cannibalism was abolished in favor of slavery. With 
the agricultural period, came the need for increased labor, 
which was neither exciting nor attractive. It did not re¬ 
quire a vast deal of intelligence to discover that an enemy 
captured in war would provide more food as a slave than 
as a meal, and consequently cannibalism became immoral, 
as contrary to the best interests of the tribe. This throws a 
significant light upon the origin of primitive morals, and 
affords a splendid introduction to the modern conception of 
social ethics. Slavery, which to-day is considered as a 
curse, was at one time a distinctly moral conception, and 
marked a great step in moral development. The question 
of ethics thus becomes an evolutionary conception, rather 
than a dogmatic rule. Through this study, the child is thus 
being unconsciously prepared for an intelligent, practical 
and enlarging conception of the great problems of our social 
and political life. 

With these developments came many changes in political 
institutions. The tribe tended to break into smaller units, 
frequently called clans, which settled into small, more com¬ 
pact, and more highly organized communities, adopting the 
patriarchal form of organization. Describing the organiza¬ 
tion of these communities, Professor Dealey writes, “The 
headship of the clan was vested in the oldest male of 
the leading family, but tended to pass from father to son. 
Religion secured a powerful hold on the mind by emphasis 
on ancestral worship. The family became permanent and 
definite, but included a wider range of kin than the modern 
family. The entire clan was virtually one great family look¬ 
ing to the head as the Patriarch or ruling father who guided 
and protected his children. They bore a common name, 
had a common system of worship and cultivated their lands 
and pastured their herds in common. Their disputes were 


80 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


settled and their affairs regulated by the heads of house¬ 
holds in joint session under the leadership of their chief. 
In this system each village community was itself a petty 
state voicing its sovereignty through the chief of the clan, 
who was assisted in his deliberations by the older and more 
influential men under his authority. Such a community by 
inter-marriage became closely kindred in blood and in social 
customs, and thus developed a homogeneous, autonomous, 
self-centered life, that gave wonderful permanence to that 
form of organization.” 

These clans developed relations among themselves which 
finally culminated in various types of loose confederations, 
either through permanent alliances, or through one power¬ 
ful community making itself superior over its lesser neigh¬ 
bors. Some form of inter-clan organization seemed inevi¬ 
table, since intercourse between them was necessary, and 
such relations generally led either to hostile competition or 
useful cooperation, and the latter implied organization. 
Marriage alliances, commercial intercourse, common wor¬ 
ship, and joint action for offense and defense in times of 
war, were the forces through which inter-clan organizations 
tended to develop. With the absorption of competing clans 
into the larger confederations, wars became less frequent 
by the lessening of the number of potential enemies, and 
the new organizations became more powerful against the 
enemies that remained. 

From such conditions tribal monarchies could easily de¬ 
velop. Permanence and stability were obtained. Public 
opinion became more articulate. Law, authority and govern¬ 
ment became still more clearly delineated. A sense of politi¬ 
cal consciousness had begun to dawn, and the elements of 
the modern state were thus slowly and rudely formed. In 
these communities, however, there was no distinction be¬ 
tween state, family and church, for all were one. At the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


:8ii 


end of this period, however, this distinction began to be¬ 
come apparent, and the state stood out as a separate insti¬ 
tution, representing the organized political life of the com¬ 
munity. 

The third stage of political life, known as the period of 
urban civilization, was largely the product of commercial 
forces. The advent of agriculture had greatly facilitated 
the creation of wealth. Men now produced a surplus above 
the bare necessities of physical existence, and this gave im¬ 
mediate stimulus to the process of barter and sale, which 
developed in magnitude and efficiency, under the new de¬ 
mands. New wants were created, and there developed com¬ 
mercial relations between communities producing and those 
desiring the products of the day. Improved forms of com¬ 
munication were established, mediums of exchange devised, 
and the special business of the merchant became established. 

In the wake of these developments came the city. Mer¬ 
chants established themselves in the midst of the fertile 
lands, in proximity to mining districts, or along the ways 
of travel. The termini of trade routes became centers of 
business, and here were gathered together the wealth and 
business interests of the community. Stopping places along 
the main channels of trade were established for the con¬ 
venience of travelers, and these also became centers of 
urban population. 

By the cosmopolitan influences thus exerted through the 
forces of commerce, travel became common, while competi¬ 
tion between groups stimulated mentality and inventive 
genius, created new wants, and accelerated interest in all 
phases of human development. 

Here were new interests to be served, new problems to 
be solved, new functions to be performed, for which the 
old established political and legal conceptions were inade¬ 
quate. New laws dealing with barter and sale, medium of 


82 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


exchange, private ownership of property, merchandising 
of goods, and innumerable other subjects were required. 
Commerce between clans and loose confederations became 
so profitable and common that rules and customs regulating 
such relations developed, and the basis of diplomacy and 
international law began slowly to develop. New problems 
arose with such rapidity and complexity that the slow de¬ 
veloping customs and traditions, enforced largely by public 
opinion, could not keep pace. The process of consciously 
framing and promulgating rules and regulations for the 
solution of problems, developed while the old traditions and 
customs were frequently codified by public authority. 

The administration of public affairs increased so tre¬ 
mendously in importance and amount under these cir¬ 
cumstances that public administration became a separate 
business, and a class of public officials followed. While, 
heretofore, the development of the state had been more 
instinctive than conscious, as humanity, struggling with 
the problems of nature, had instinctively gathered into such 
groups and developed such traditions as their daily ex¬ 
perience demonstrated was essential to their existence, here 
they began to use their conceptions of the state, government 
and laws as valuable instruments with which to struggle 
with their common problems. This was a great step in the 
advancement of civilization, and enabled humanity to grapple 
more effectively with the questions that a rapidly changing 
social and economic life presented. 

As Professor Dealey observes, such development “de¬ 
manded changes in political organization. The members 
of a conservative village community living in practically 
the same way as their fathers, might well continue the cus¬ 
toms and habits of their ancestors. But when the popula¬ 
tion and wealth of the community increased by leaps and 
bounds, when strangers of wealth and brain capacity settled 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


83 


in ever larger numbers within their borders, modifications 
had to be made. The village lord became a king, his little 
council became a great body of advisers and administrators, 
the petty business of the village became a mass of duties 
requiring the services of many hundreds. Then followed 
centralization of authority, codification of customs and intro¬ 
duction of business methods in administration, through the 
organization of great departments of state. Increasingly 
larger numbers of influential residents, whether native or 
foreign by descent, shared in the responsibility of govern¬ 
ment. Such modifications brought about the development 
of the city state, best known through the classic examples 
of Greece and Rome, but found in all early civilizations 
characterized by a developed commercial life.” 

It was from the city states so developed that there arose 
the Roman empire, extending its control in all directions, 
and developing a monarchy much stronger and more unified 
than had been found before. The tendency toward central¬ 
ization and expansion reached its crest in the rise of the 
Holy Roman empire, and the ambition of the papacy for 
temporal power. The failure of these schemes, together 
with the awakening spirit of nationality that occurred in 
the centuries that followed, resulted in the growth of civili¬ 
zation being directed again along the lines of national de¬ 
velopment. 

The fourth stage in the political development of the world, 
known as the period of industrial civilization, followed 
about the middle of the eighteenth century, with the appli¬ 
cation of machinery to the manufacture and transportation 
of goods. The advancement of civilization has always been 
dependent upon the supply of food and other material 
wants. Population easily increases under favorable condi¬ 
tions, but food and other material things come only by physi¬ 
cal work and mental toil. All the great eras in human ad- 


84 


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vancement have been preceded by permanent additions to 
the food supplies. With such increases in the necessities 
of life, there are released great quantities of energy, before 
absorbed in the object of food getting, for new types of 
productive enterprise and mental effort. 

Thus with the tremendously increased production, made 
possible by the industrial revolution, marvelous social and 
economic changes were inevitable, and political life had to 
be adjusted accordingly. “As a further result of the de¬ 
velopment,'” again quoting Professor Dealey, “commerce 
has multiplied past all precedent, every corner of the habit¬ 
able earth has become known and explored, hermit nations 
are forced out for better or for worse into western civiliza¬ 
tion, and governmental activity has expanded so as to meet 
new conditions. Larger interests, greater wealth and in¬ 
creased population give greater fighting power, and to the 
leading nations the old struggle for empire once more comes 
to the front. They strain every nerve to develop material 
and mental capacity, so as to attain supremacy in inter¬ 
national competition; they seek to expand by extending their 
sway over nations inferior in attainment, and they readjust 
their political organizations so as to manage more wisely 
their great interests. In such an age as this political change 
is inevitable. World politics finds no place for the petty 
state, the backward nation, the ultraconservative people. 
Broad and high intelligence, moral energy, capacity for hard 
work and bold initiative and invention are the virtues of 
the age. Intelligence in the state involves democracy in the 
system; immense resources demand executive and adminis¬ 
trative capacity; the necessity of accomplishing a desired 
end by concentrating every possible ounce of energy at the 
proper place, insures concentration of governmental power. 
Such capacities and virtues, in a struggle for national ex¬ 
istence or world supremacy, are not matters of indifference 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


85 


but necessities for survival, and hence the present age tends 
to develop a political life suited to the attainment by states 
of whatever will contribute to the highest development of 
their peoples.” 

Another inevitable result of the conditions is found in 
the foreign policies of all foreign nations, including the 
United States. To-day all of their policies are based fun¬ 
damentally upon considerations of economic imperialism. 
This is not necessarily so because they desire it, but because 
it is a necessary result of the condition of the world. It is 
essential to the maintenance of national strength and vigor. 
For instance, America is now an industrial, rather than an 
agricultural, nation. For some time we have been produc¬ 
ing more manufactured goods than we have been consuming. 
That means that we must find a foreign market for our 
surplus, or our industries will decline, while the nation that 
sells to the markets of the world prospers in strength and 
wealth. Under the circumstances there is no other alterna¬ 
tive, if America would retain her strength and power, than 
to enter into the world-wide competition for foreign trade. 

But this is a hazardous undertaking. It has been recently 
reported that seventy per cent, of the people of England live 
upon the profit of overseas commerce. That means that 
unless England can keep her share of the world's trade, 
a corresponding number of her people must either starve 
or live on the bounty of others. That in turn would be 
the end of British power. With England, it is a matter 
of life or death. What is true of England, is true to some 
extent of France, Belgium, Germany and Japan. For 
America to enter into competition with these great powers, 
for the very life-blood of national existence, is bound to 
lead to friction and toward another period of world conflict. 

These nations must have an assured access to the markets 
of the world. They must have increasing supplies of raw 


86 


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materials to keep their factories employed. As they amass 
their surplus wealth, they must have opportunities for its 
profitable employment in the more backward countries. The 
amount of world trade at any one time is limited. The known 
sources of raw material are not inexhaustible. The oppor¬ 
tunities for the profitable investment in backward countries 
are capable of being monopolized. No nation, including 
America, can afford to lag behind in this contest for sur¬ 
vival. Consequently there has ensued the contest for colo¬ 
nies, for spheres of influence, for protectorates, and for 
special concessions among backward peoples. 

Under the circumstances, the position of the weaker 
nations, with valuable sources of raw material to be ex¬ 
ploited, and affording potential markets for the future, is 
most hazardous and insecure. The scramble for trade and 
for empire makes another world conflict inevitable, unless 
the nations, appalled at the tremendous sacrifice that it 
exacts, conscious that any settlement so secured can be but 
temporary, can create an international organization, wherein 
the united forces of all can safeguard the security of each. 
If all the backward countries toward whom the great na¬ 
tions now look with envious eyes would have their inde¬ 
pendence thus assured, and no nation would have ground to 
fear that it would be monopolized by its competitor, a great 
source of danger would be removed, and a measure of equal 
opportunity in foreign trade might be assured to all the 
powers. 

Out of these conditions has come a movement for a league 
of nations, in which the nations prepare to unite to serve 
jointly their nationalistic purposes which they can not pro¬ 
tect separately. For under the present regime, national life 
and vigor rest upon no more certain foundation than the 
fickle channels of trade and the accidents of modern wars, 
where alliances and ententes only add to the bewildering 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


87 


uncertainties of military victories. The movement for a 
sane world organization thus rests, not upon any sentimental 
basis of internationalism, but upon the most far-sighted and 
practical nationalism. 

International organization, like all other forms of politi¬ 
cal institutions in human development, will succeed only 
in so far as it is an effectual instrument for serving human 
needs. This is one lesson that the story of the development 
of the state must not fail to teach. If the league of nations 
is to endure, therefore, it will be because it is an effective 
means of providing adequate safeguards to the peaceful 
and lawful development of the several nations. If it does 
not provide this, it can not endure. 

To those with the evolutionary point of view, who have 
followed the course of economic and social development, 
the need of some form of international organization, to save 
civilization from the wreck of future wars and the bolshe¬ 
vism that tends to follow in their wake, becomes self- 
evident. The political and organizing genius of the race, 
that has evolved the political ideas for the horde, the tribe, 
the clan, the city state, the nation and the world empires 
of to-day, must now create a political organization that will 
meet the immediate international needs of the great powers 
of the world. This is the next step in the great process 
of human evolution. If it does not come this generation, 
it will come the next. The opposition to the fundamental 
principles of such movements comes from those with static 
minds, who lack the evolutionary point of view. They re¬ 
gard change as unnatural. They rally around the battle 
cry that one can’t change human nature. But the facts are 
that the basic elements of human nature make change and 
development inevitable. In this fact lies the hope of human¬ 
ity. In these great world movements, in which men are 
struggling to secure new safeguards for civilization, and 


88 


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new guarantees against the enemies of mankind, such move¬ 
ments as those looking to a practical world organization 
represent not the defiance of human nature, but the unfold¬ 
ing development of its divine splendor. 

The successive stages by which men have supplanted con¬ 
flict with cooperation, license with liberty, and chaos with 
law, have evidenced with unmistakable clearness that the 
pathway of human nature is the pathway of progress, 
development and evolution. Those who, through selfish 
interest or hopeless ignorance, seek to oppose the progress 
of society, are the real enemies to the forces of human 
nature. They may impede but they can not stop its onward 
march. On the other hand, those who comprehend the 
nature of social progress—who have the evolutionary point 
of view—they are the ones upon whom society must de¬ 
pend for the vision, the energy and the leadership that will 
direct the contending forces and facilitate humanity's up¬ 
ward struggle. 

Not only is the knowledge of the nature and necessities of 
the modern industrial state essential to the understanding of 
the modern tendencies in diplomacy and world politics, but 
it is also indispensable to an understanding of the internal 
development of modern governments. The relative sim¬ 
plicity of our governmental machinery of a century and a 
half ago, as compared with that of to-day, is appalling. Has 
there developed a needless complexity in the mazes of which 
democracy is about to lose itself? Does it mean that we 
have lost our political moorings, and are wandering danger¬ 
ously and needlessly along the pathway of paternalistic 
government and state socialism? These are questions that 
thinking people can not evade, and their answers can only 
be ascertained by inquiring into the underlying causes of this 
complex development. If we have only added new ma¬ 
chinery of government to meet the problems that a rapidly 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


89 


evolving civilization has presented, and we still adhere to 
the ideal of equal opportunity for all, there may be little 
cause for fear. 

One has but to contemplate the vast and revolutionary 
changes that have followed in the wake of the industrial 
revolution, to realize that the simple political conceptions 
of the fathers, while sound in fundamental principles, were 
wholly inadequate in detail for the modern problems. Be¬ 
fore the industrial revolution, only about three per cent, of 
our people lived in cities, while to-day over forty per cent, 
live in cities of over eight thousand inhabitants. These 
cities, largely the result of the factory system, have been 
conditioned, both in their development, location and tenden¬ 
cies, upon considerations of economic expediency. It made 
no difference how unwholesome a place might be, how un¬ 
sightly the surroundings, or how overcrowded it already 
was, if a great factory could be profitably established, be¬ 
cause of its proximity to raw material, to distributing cen¬ 
ters, or to unusual transportation facilities, there the factory 
was located, and there the men and women who depended 
upon factory labor for their living were compelled to live, 
whether or no. 

With such conditions arose new problems of public health, 
sanitation and tenements. Adequate safeguards against the 
spread of contagious disease to a degree unheard of before, 
now became essential. With the rapid growth of these in¬ 
dustrial centers, came the tenement-house problem with 
its moral, physical and spiritual implications, which could 
not be ignored. In the congested areas, it became neces¬ 
sary to provide breathing areas, public parks and play¬ 
grounds, and to see that conditions prevailed that were con¬ 
ducive to health and morals. 

Public utilities were then established and their inseparable 
relation to housing, health, morals and the necessities of 


90 


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life, at once required their regulation by the state. The 
constitutional rights of stockholders had to be protected, 
and the investment of private capital in such enterprises 
encouraged, but at the same time it was necessary to pro¬ 
tect the public against inferior service, discrimination and 
excessive charges. This one problem alone has called for 
the development of much additional machinery and the 
end is not yet in sight. 

With the growth of the factory system and the division 
of labor, there came the problems of industrial disease, and 
industrial accidents. Despite the great progress already 
achieved, these two causes alone exact an annual toll of 
nearly one million victims. 

More fundamental and intricate than these examples, 
and the hundreds of others that might be cited, is the prob¬ 
lem arising from the conflict between capital and labor. 
With the growth of the factory system, there came a tre¬ 
mendous increase in productive capacity. By virtue of in¬ 
ventive genius and the application of steam and machinery 
to the process of production and distribution, labor and 
capital increased their productivity by gigantic strides. La¬ 
bor and capital soon became engaged in a controversy as to 
how the joint profit of their labors should be divided. Labor 
unions were formed to give to employees the advantages of 
collective bargaining in their demands for shorter hours, 
better working conditions and higher pay. So the struggle has 
gone on until to-day it absorbs the interest of the nation 
and threatens to paralyze our industrial life. To cope with 
different phases of this problem, new governmental ma¬ 
chinery has been found essential and departments of labor, 
industrial commissions and other appropriate offices have 
been created. 

In all of this development many false steps doubtless have 
been made. Many things have been attempted that have 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


91 


been impotent, if not positively harmful. Nevertheless the 
new problems were present, and if the government was to 
grapple with them, additional machinery and institutions 
were required. Under these new conditions the govern¬ 
ment could not become an effective instrument of distribu¬ 
tive justice, it could not be the successful guardian of the 
public safety, health and morals, it could not protect the 
weak against the aggressions of the strong, without develop¬ 
ing new and effective machinery, accurately adapted to the 
particular problems that were involved. This is as true of 
government to-day as it was of the governments in primi¬ 
tive days. Only those groups survived which succeeded in 
meeting the problems of their day and age, and no govern¬ 
ment can hope for permanence to-day, except by meeting the 
same inexorable law of social efficiency. 

From this brief survey of the development of govern¬ 
ment, there are two principles that should become so clear 
and obvious that they can never be forgotten. In fact, the 
main justification of the subject-matter of the chapter, is 
that it affords a splendid opportunity for the exposition of 
these principles. The first principle is the great social 
utility of law and order, or the value of established and or¬ 
derly methods of procedure, as the surest and quickest 
route of social and political progress. This lesson is par¬ 
ticularly needed at this time when the very atmosphere is 
redolent with the spirit of radicalism and unrest. As has al¬ 
ready been observed, the remedy for this spirit is not in 
moral preachments, extolling the virtues of established or¬ 
der. It can not be based entirely upon superficial and opti¬ 
mistic appeals to altruistic endeavor. The reverence for 
law and order that will endure—that will withstand the 
stress and strain of modern life—must be based upon a pro¬ 
found conviction of its utility to one’s self and to his group. 
This must be brought home time and time again, until it is 


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part of one’s intellectual equipment, deeply embedded in 
mental habit, and until it has made its dramatic appeal, on 
the part of the group, to the individual’s instinctive life. 

The whole history of political development has been an 
almost continuous process of enlarging the field of coopera¬ 
tive endeavor, and humanity has generally made progress 
only so fast as this has been actually accomplished. Prim¬ 
itive society could never have formed itself into the horde, 
or the tribe or clan, except by enlarging the cooperative ef¬ 
fort. And this was done only by evolving and observing cus¬ 
toms and traditions which later developed into laws. It re¬ 
quires but a moment’s reflection to realize that only those 
groups, tribes or clans survived which followed the path¬ 
way of local laws. In the agricultural period a tribe that 
refused to obey the mandate against cannibalism, could not 
hope to stand out against the richer and stronger tribes who 
had profited by the rule. In the pastoral period, a group 
that refused to grant ready adherence to the rules laid down 
for the protection of their pastoral interests, could hardly 
hope to survive in a conflict with neighbors who enjoyed 
the superior wealth and power that flowed from intelligent 
obedience to law. 

The whole primitive struggle that has characterized the 
early evolution of government, was a constant contest for 
survival in which those groups that learned the value of 
law and order, as the basis of cooperative effort, finally 
survived. 

The other principle to be emphasized here is that political 
progress is conditioned upon the capacity of the group to 
change their established order, when necessary, to cope with 
new and changing problems. At first blush this principle 
seems contradictory to the idea of reverence for law and 
order, but the contradiction is only apparent and not real. 
Unfortunately, however, the two are frequently confused. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


93 


The man who is for law and order as a matter of tem¬ 
perament, rather than as a result of intelligent perception, 
is generally for the same reason against any change in the 
established regime. But the man with a dynamic mind and 
an evolutionary point of view, who believes in law and or¬ 
der only as a useful means to a desired end, will accept the 
second principle as a vital and necessary corollary to the 
first. And yet the facts are that many times important 
changes are opposed by the defenders of established order, 
when it is only through such change that the original pur¬ 
poses can be achieved. The controversy in Chicago over 
the abolition of the justice courts, discussed in the pre¬ 
ceding chapter, affords a dramatic illustration. The jus¬ 
tice court had become an outrageous instrument of tyranny 
and oppression for the poor and ignorant, and yet many 
who opposed the adoption of the municipal court in its 
stead, did so because they would not rob the poor of sim¬ 
ple and inexpensive justice. Yet the facts are that this 
very change has given to the poor the simple justice that 
they desired, and saved them from intolerable abuse. 

In the primitive contest for survival, the remarkable op¬ 
eration of this principle is continuously apparent. As prim¬ 
itive society emerged from the embryonic horde to the pas¬ 
toral stage, demanding new traditions and customs dealing 
with the care, ownership and defense of the tribal herds, 
any group that would have ignored these needs, and stub¬ 
bornly clung to the simpler traditions of the earlier days, 
could not possibly have survived. 

So it was with the transition from the pastoral to agri¬ 
cultural life, with its requirements for a definitely organized 
group, with fixed boundaries, centralized authority, superior 
methods of defense, and laws governing the ownership and 
control of property. The group that declined to make the 
political changes necessary to meet these new demands, 


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must inevitably have been defeated and enslaved by those 
who had. And so it has been through all the vicissitudes of 
human progress, and so it is to-day. No more fundamen¬ 
tal lesson can be taught to the young citizens of democracy 
than that the power, prestige and permanence of our great 
republic is conditioned upon our capacity so to adjust the 
details of our government and policy as to make America, 
amid the rapidly shifting problems of the coming years, an 
efficient guardian of liberty and justice. 

The teacher who can find a way of building into the dawn¬ 
ing consciousness of youth the great fundamental conviction 
that the way of liberty, justice, and of progress is found in 
evolution; that though its process requires time, patience 
and tireless efforts, its rewards are ample; that the destiny 
of democracy depends upon the valor, the wisdom, the open- 
mindedness and the fidelity with which each generation 
grapples with the problems of patriotic duty; and finally 
that in the investment of one's energy and interest in this 
eternal struggle for human betterment, one finds life's 
rarest thrills and richest joys—such a teacher is building a 
foundation for democracy that will endure. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. If our citizens can become thoroughly imbued with the evolu¬ 
tionary point of view, what concrete results will follow in regard to 
the progress of social and political reform? 

2. What additional examples can you suggest that will be usefifl 
in demonstrating the evolutionary point of view? 

3. What opportunities are there in literature and language to de¬ 
velop this point of view? 

4. What are the inherent difficulties to be encountered in develop¬ 
ing this point of view? 

5. How would you proceed to develop this point of view in teach¬ 
ing the history of your community? Be concrete and specific in 
your answer. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


95 


6. What specific steps would you take to present this point of 
view in connection with the teaching of state government? 

7. Is there any pedagogical value in using the evolutionary point 
of view? Explain this in detail. 

8. In what way is the idea of a league of nations a pr«duct of this 
point of view? Trace this out in detail. 

9. Do we have governments to-day and obey law to-day for the 
same fundamental reasons that impelled the people to have govern¬ 
ments and obey laws in earlier times? What are those fundamental 
reasons ? 

10. In what ways may the value of law and order as a means to 
accomplish a given end be illustrated in terms of the child's experi¬ 
ence? May the rules of different games and the functions of the 
umpire in baseball, etc., be profitably employed? Give other ex¬ 
amples. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Gettell, Raymond G., Problems in Political Evolution (Ginn & Co., 
Boston, 1914). 

Chapter III, “The Nature of the State.” 

Chapter IV, “The Origin of the State.” 

Chapter V, “The State and the Fundamental Social Institu¬ 
tions.” 

Strong, Josiah, Our World (Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 
1913). 

Ely, Richard T., Studies in the Evolution of Industrial Society 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1906). 

Part I. 

Beard, C. A., American Government and Politics (Macmillan Com¬ 
pany, New York, 1914). 

Part I, “Historical Foundations.” 

Beard, C. A., Readings in American Government and Politics (Mac¬ 
millan Company, New York, 1913). 

Part I, “Historical Foundations ” 

Dealey, J. Q., The Development of the State (Silver, Burdett & 
Co., New York, 1909). 

Chapter I, “Social Development.” 

Chapter II, “Stages in the Development of the State.” 
Garner, James W., Introduction to Political Science (American 
Book Company, New York, 1910). 


96 


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Cleveland, Frederick A., Organised Democracy (Longmans, Green 
& Co., New York, 1913). 

Part I, “The Foundations of the American Republic.” 

Munro, William B., The Government of the United States (Macmil¬ 
lan Company, New York, 1919). 

Chapter I, “English and Colonial Origins.” 

Chapter II, “Preliminaries of National Government” 


CHAPTER V 


THE FUNCTIONAL APPROACH 

AN INSTRUCTOR once startled a teachers' institute 
/~\ with the dogmatic statement that there was no subject 
covered in the course of civics that could not be made one of 
absorbing interest to the student. An irate gentleman of 
many years' experience in the district school, took violent 
and voluble exception to the idea, concluding his remarks 
with the statement that it was his duty to teach, among other 
things, the government of his county. He was unable to see 
how that could be made either dramatic, interesting or 
palatable, and he would be very grateful to be shown. The 
instructor had just come from an institute in another county 
where one of the special speakers had been the county health 
officer. This man had shown that during the incumbency 
of his office for three years, he had reduced the number of 
preventable diseases among school children of the county 
over seventy-five per cent., and had reduced the annual 
number of deaths from such causes from nine to one. 

The instructor cited this as an example of the dramatic 
significance that attaches to one of the county offices, too 
frequently regarded as too insignificant for the teacher’s 
notice or the public’s interest. So true is this attitude of 
indifference toward this important office, that it is rarely 
filled with the best physicians, and not infrequently with 
the worst. I have been in not a few communities where 
an inquiry for the most incompetent physician and the local 
health officer, brought forth the same response. And yet 
upon his skill, energy and fidelity depend the life, health and 

97 


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DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


happiness of many. If the conscientious work of an un¬ 
known health officer, in a backward county, could save eight 
lives a year, surely the study of that office and its func¬ 
tions could be made both interesting and dramatic. And, 
what is fundamentally more important, if this were done, 
there can be but little doubt that these young citizens, as 
they emerged into years of political responsibility, would 
take a different attitude regarding the importance of the 
office, and the type of men who filled it. 

The teacher who found nothing of interest in county gov¬ 
ernment, saw in that institution only a framework of stat¬ 
utory and constitutional provisions. He had missed entirely 
the graphic story of human need that brought the institution 
of county government into existence, and the significant and 
human functions that it performed. Doubtless his pupils 
would have borne out his testimony that the subject was 
monotonous and dull. 

The problems confronting this teacher would be greatly 
simplified, if not solved, by using the functional approach 
to all studies of the social sciences. This is the natural, 
psychological manner, and yet it is rarely used. It is the 
way the race learned, and it is probably safe to assume 
that the way they learned was, at least, the most nat¬ 
ural if not the most direct. Primitive man began his first 
political thinking in the terms of the needs that confronted 
him. It was in the effort to meet these needs that the idea 
of political organization slowly developed and matured. 
This same method of learning should be followed in the 
school-room, if the best results are to be attained. 

There are three reasons why this method always should 
be employed. The first reason is that the functional ap¬ 
proach enables the teacher to interpret and explain govern¬ 
ment and society in terms of the pupil's own experience. 
Unless this is done the pupil can not really comprehend. As 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


99 


a student in school, I learned that the functions of govern¬ 
ment were divided into three groups or departments: the 
legislative, the executive and the judicial. I learned to de¬ 
fine these in terms satisfactory to the teacher, but which 
were meaningless to me. The separation of the powers of 
government into these three groups touched nothing in my 
experience. It did not connect up with any of the realities 
of my life. It had no sense of importance for me. Under 
these circumstances, the teacher’s efforts were largely futile. 

Suppose, however, she had used the functional approach 
to government. She would have shown, for instance, that 
to have schools and colleges in which people could be edu¬ 
cated, required the cooperative effort of the community or 
the state. It was too great an undertaking for any one in¬ 
dividual or family. Therefore, they had to join their forces 
to do jointly what they could not do singly. So the people 
established school boards, and school districts, and school 
trustees, and provided for the erection and operation of 
schools. This cooperative enterprise could only be accom¬ 
plished by having laws adopted which would provide the 
basis for their joint efforts. For it is obvious that there 
could be no successful schools unless there were superin¬ 
tendents and teachers and some one appointed to employ 
them; unless school should be held at a given time and place, 
so children would know where and when to go; and unless 
the pupils would be divided into groups, according to age 
and school experience, so that each class could study the 
same subjects. 

Obviously, so simple a matter as a village school can not 
be operated without its school law, and its body of rules 
and regulations. But whence do these laws come? They 
are not automatic. They do not create themselves. They 
are, in fact, promulgated by a body of the representatives of 
the people, which body is called a legislature. This is a 


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very important department of the government that the peo¬ 
ple have created for this and similar purposes. 

This is the functional approach. It begins with the needs 
of government, needs that are so clear and elementary that 
they mean something in the pupil’s experience. Then, pro¬ 
ceeding from the known to the unknown, the pupil is taken 
from a consideration of the needs of which he personally 
has been made conscious, to the institutions of government 
that have been adopted to meet these needs. Now it may be 
reasonably supposed, the legislature has come to have some 
real significance in the mind of the pupil, and as this process 
is continually repeated, in dealing with the different func¬ 
tions and institutions of government, the understanding be¬ 
comes more nearly adequate and complete. By this method, 
the educational process becomes a gradual unfolding of the 
pupil’s realm of consciousness, and a gradual and natural 
broadening of the limits of his experience. 

But laws do not interpret themselves, and yet they must 
be interpreted for those who execute and obey them. And 
in spite of the fact that they may be very carefully drawn, 
reasonable men very frequently differ as to their meaning. 
And when men do differ as to their meaning, how shall 
this difference be decided? Suppose, for instance, that the 
school law provides that no teachers shall be employed who 
do not have one year of “professional training.” The ma¬ 
jority of the school board think that one X, who has had a 
year’s work in a certain college, comes within the meaning 
of the law, and therefore authorize the superintendent to 
engage X as a teacher. The treasurer, who is responsible 
for paying out money from the school fund, in accordance 
with the law, thinks that X does not come within the mean¬ 
ing of the statute, that her contract is, therefore, illegal, 
and he refuses to pay her salary. If the different parties 
can not settle the controversy by mutual agreement, some 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


101 


one must settle it for them, or the school may go without a 
teacher. 

Innumerable cases of this character are continually aris- 
ing, and if there were no one who had authority to settle 
them, there would be interminable and intolerable deadlocks 
and delays in public business. To meet these needs, which, 
by well-chosen, simple illustrations, may be made very con¬ 
crete and obvious, the people have established a system of 
courts, which constitute the judicial department of govern¬ 
ment, and it is the business of these courts to interpret and 
apply the law in all such cases, when properly brought be¬ 
fore them. Through this approach, the judiciary has a 
real meaning to the pupil in terms of his own experience. 
Almost every boy and girl has had some games spoiled by 
disagreement over the meaning or application of the rules, 
and has found that if games which require close decisions, 
like baseball and basketball, are to be played satisfactorily, 
an umpire must be chosen to give authoritative decisions. 
Thus the idea of an officer, chosen to decide controversies 
and interpret and apply the law, may be made very real 
and significant to the normal pupil. To such a one, the ju¬ 
diciary does not mean a mere dictionary definition or con¬ 
ception, but a very real and essential part of the machinery 
which men have created to meet the demands of every-day 
life. 

Likewise, the executive department should be approached 
in exactly the same way. Even though men agree to the 
meaning of the law, they do not always do as the law pro¬ 
vides. Disobedience to the law may be due to ignorance 
of it, to carelessness in regard to it, to forgetfulness, and to 
viciousness. Whatever may be the motive, society and civ¬ 
ilization can not exist unless the laws are generally obeyed. 
How could a school be maintained if scholars came only 
when and where they wished, if teachers only taught what 


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and when they liked, and if school boards only paid or re¬ 
fused to pay the bills as the caprice of the moment might 
dictate? Only confusion and impotence would result. 
What is true of the school would obviously be true of the 
whole community. 

There is then a very real and apparent need in the com¬ 
munity and the state for some one to be selected who will 
see to it that the laws are executed and obeyed. To meet 
this need, administrative and executive officers are created, 
and they compose the executive department of the govern¬ 
ment. The necessity for obedience to law is illustrated so 
clearly on every hand, that there would seem to be no diffi¬ 
culty in finding abundant illustrative material to bring this 
clearly home to the most inexperienced boy or girl. 

The second reason in favor of the functional approach in 
the study of society is that it, better than any other method, 
demonstrates the true nature of government, institutions 
and laws, viz., that they are useful means for the obtaining 
of certain ends. This involves one aspect of the evolu¬ 
tionary point of view that is quite essential. The individual, 
whose introduction to these subjects is made through an 
analysis of group needs, and the tracing of these needs 
through the cooperative effort to meet them, resulting in the 
formation of the institutions and laws he sees about him, 
can scarcely fail to grasp this point of view. In fact, that is 
the only conception that he obtains from this method of 
approach. 

One of the important results of this method is the proper 
appreciation of the nature and character of law. One of 
the reasons for the popular disrespect of law that seems to 
prevail among our people, is doubtless due to the narrow 
and restrictive meaning it has to the vast majority of minds. 
In the popular conception, law is identified primarily with 
the repressive and punitive measures that make up the crim- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


103 


inal law. And yet in both bulk and importance, the crim¬ 
inal law is but a very minor part of our system of juris¬ 
prudence. The great bulk of the law of the state has to do 
with laying down the rules that are to govern the rights 
and duties of the individuals, engaged in the great coopera¬ 
tive undertaking that we call organized society. These 
rules are not so much restraints upon individual freedom 
as they are the necessary basis of cooperative effort. 

In the course of modern events it becomes necessary to 
make contracts, create partnerships, erect great corpora¬ 
tions, build vast enterprises, govern and equip cities, build 
and operate great school systems, and so on, and yet every 
one of these and the thousands of other like undertakings 
require rules and principles, defining all the rights of the 
millions of parties who are involved, and laying down legal 
requirements for their guidance. Law thus becomes a valu¬ 
able instrument without which the fabric of our civilization 
could not be builded. Law is as essential to these mighty 
undertakings as are the rules of cards to a game of whist. 

The prevailing ignorance among educated people, regard¬ 
ing the nature and functions of law, is illustrated by a re¬ 
cent personal experience. A prominent professor of English 
in one of our great universities, having, for the first time 
in his life, become interested in a law pending in the legis¬ 
lature of his state, appeared before a legislative committee 
in its behalf. In discussing the bill he became confused by 
some of the technical language employed. He at once 
came to the quite common conclusion that such technicalities 
and refinements of expression were quite useless, in fact, 
positively vicious, for it was the usage of such language 
that made lawyers an expensive necessity, and led to use¬ 
less litigation. He closed his outburst to me with the state¬ 
ment that he would “flunk” a member of his freshman class 
in composition, who could not draw a plain statute or write 


104 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


a simple contract in clear language, so that no reasonable 
and honest court or man could have a doubt as to its mean¬ 
ing. 

I submitted to him the following simple agreement for 
his scrutiny and approval: “A and B agree, on this, the 
25th day of September, 1915, that A purchase the spotted 
cow of B, known as Betsy, for $100, it being agreed that B 
will deliver the said cow to A on the 30th of this month, and 
that A pay to B the $100 on the 27th of this month.” He 
thought that honest, reasonable men could have no doubt as 
to what it meant. But, I suggested, suppose that on Septem¬ 
ber 28th, 1915, after the cow had been paid for on the 27th 
as specified, the lightning strikes and kills the spotted cow, 
Betsy, and on the 30th A demands the delivery of the cow, 
and on the failure of B to deliver it, demands the return of 
his $100, and damages for failure to comply with his agree¬ 
ment. What are the rights of the parties? Submit this 
question to any group of reasonable men, who are not law¬ 
yers, and you will find an honest difference of opinion, and 
yet here was as simple a contract as one could wish. 

The difficulty in drawing the contract was that the parties 
had not anticipated a very ordinary and possible event, viz., 
the unexpected death of the cow. To meet all of these 
emergencies which are bound to occur in great profusion 
and complexity, and to provide a basis of solution that is 
just and fair, and in which the public has confidence, there 
must be a carefully elaborated system of law. Without it, 
men would hesitate to enter into business relations. When 
disputes arose, as would be inevitable from time to time, if 
there was no law for their solution, men would be strongly 
tempted to resort to force and all the other evils of violent 
self-help. The fights in which small boys occasionally en¬ 
gage over disputed facts in a game of baseball, when played 
without an umpire, afford evidence of this tendency. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


105 


On another occasion a very intelligent and well informed 
man declared to an applauding audience that there was no 
reason why law should be intricate or complex. It was in¬ 
tentionally made so by the lawyers in order to create legal 
business. These superficial criticisms of our jurisprudence, 
all too common among our people, can not form the basis 
of a very intelligent citizenship, nor the foundation for a 
genuine respect for law. The child who has come to his 
study of government through the functional approach, who 
has seen the needs before he learned the laws and insti¬ 
tutions created to provide for them—will recognize the 
simple and obvious fact that our laws are intricate and 
complex because the life that we live and the civilization 
that we enjoy are intricate and complex, and the law must 
provide the basis for both. Take as a typical example, 
one of our necessary institutions of to-day, a great railroad 
company, with millions of capital, building and operating a 
railroad across the continent. There are stockholders, bond¬ 
holders, shippers of every class and description, contractors, 
officers, employees, passengers, freight, rolling stock, real 
estate—all part of the problem of transportation, and all 
having interests which must be protected by adequate rules 
of law. As one contemplates the veritable maze of personal 
and property rights that is involved in a single day’s opera¬ 
tion, one can not escape the conclusion that the genius that 
has devised a legal system for defining, limiting, securing 
and enforcing them with reasonable efficiency and satisfac¬ 
tion, has earned the gratitude, rather than the contempt, of 
humanity. There are defects in our laws, the same as in 
all human creations, that require ceaseless efforts to remedy. 
But the remedy will not be found in the growing contempt 
and disrespect for law that emanates from the fallacious 
and plausible tirades of the demagogue. It will come only 
when an intelligent electorate comprehends the real signifi- 


106 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


cance of the problem, and demands of its public servants* 
constructive accomplishment instead of impossible pro¬ 
nouncements. 

The importance of emphasizing again and again the func¬ 
tional side of government, as laying emphasis upon the fact 
that humanity is concerned primarily with the ends 
achieved, rather than with the means employed, is evidenced 
by the general confidence reposed in popular votes and ma¬ 
jority rule, as a remedy for public ills, or a solution of press¬ 
ing problems. While this general problem received some 
attention in Chapter III, additional material along the same 
line here seems justified by the importance of the subject. 

When America was struggling with the problem of peace 
or war, one of the most important and momentous ques¬ 
tions ever submitted to our government, a question whose 
intelligent decision had to depend upon a comprehensive 
understanding of the relative strength of the contending 
armies, upon the real ambitions and intentions of the Ger¬ 
man government and its people, and upon what vital rela¬ 
tions already existed between America and world politics 
and what these relations might be in the years ahead, there 
arose the demand to submit this question of war or peace 
to a referendum vote. Let us contemplate for a moment 
the nature of this proposal. 

. In the firs t place, a very important element in the solu¬ 
tion of this problem was the probable outcome of the strug¬ 
gle if America did not enter. The great war was the out¬ 
growth of world developments and competition, for which 
America was the least responsible of any of the powers con¬ 
cerned. While we soon recognized that the Allies were fight¬ 
ing on the side of law, international order and good faith, 
if the Allies could defeat Germany without our aid, would 
we not be justified in leaving them alone to solve the prob¬ 
lem for which they were in large measure responsible? 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


107 


Should we abandon the advantage of our natural isolation 
unless it became necessary to secure the defeat of Ger¬ 
many? 

But the application of this policy, if adopted, would in¬ 
volve the question of whether or not the Allies would need 
our aid to win. If we waited until the struggle was over, 
it would be too late. Indeed, as it was, there is evidence 
to believe that, had America been but a few months later, 
she would have been too late. To determine during the 
conflict which side would win, would require a careful 
study of the problem of strategy, the financial conditions of 
the contending countries, their probable food supply, the 
condition of the morale of both the armies and the peoples, 
and finally, of the secret information that the Allies would 
be willing to give to the government, but which could not 
be given to the public, because it would reach the enemy. 
To suppose that there could be an intelligent public opinion 
on such a question, involving so many items entirely outside 
the domain of the average man’s knowledge or experience, 
surely does violence to one’s imagination. 

But this is not all. To determine whether the suggested 
policy of entering the war in case it was necessary to secure 
the defeat of Germany, was or was not wise, depended upon 
another question, viz., what would be the effect upon the in¬ 
terests of America and the world, in case Germany should 
win. Obviously this depended upon the purposes, plans and 
powers of Germany in case of victory. It depended upon 
an intimate knowledge of German philosophy and German 
foreign policy, as well as upon the economic, commercial 
and diplomatic background of the whole European situation. 
How many citizens were able at the time the question of 
war or peace was pending, to give an adequate judgment 
upon those complicated facts? With our traditional ig¬ 
norance of foreign affairs, how many citizens could have 


108 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


hazarded an intelligent guess, or even comprehended the 
outstanding matters that were involved? How many, in 
1917, were prepared to comprehend the idea of Mittel- 
Europa, or Germany's relation to the Balkans, or the effect 
of these upon the vital interests of America? How many 
voters, whose only knowledge of German character and 
purpose was gained from pleasant and profitable friendship 
with worthy American citizens of Teutonic blood, would 
have believed that German policy coldly contemplated such 
damnable projects of world dominion with such arbitrary, 
despotic power? 

Furthermore, how many citizens were in a position to 
appreciate intelligently the fundamental significance to 
America in particular and to democracy in general, of the 
destruction of international law and of international good 
faith, and of the substitution of the arbitrary power of the 
conqueror for the cooperative efforts of liberal nations, in 
arranging the world’s affairs? How would this affect the 
Monroe Doctrine? What effect would it have upon the 
safety of the Philippines? What would become of the 
principle of the Open Door in the Orient ? What would be 
the effect on the growing tendency toward arbitration, to 
which we have always been devoted? Every one of these 
questions was vital to the issue of war or peace, and yet 
in the early part of 1917, how many citizens were ready to 
reach an intelligent conclusion? 

This does not mean that public opinion can not and must 
not prevail. One thing this war has emphasized through¬ 
out the world is that in modern military conflict, the morale 
of the people is as essential to victory as the fighting spirit 
of the troops. It simply means that to such a complex ques¬ 
tion the remedy is not to be found by a mere counting of 
the hands. Great vital problems, upon which depend the 
destiny of civilization, can not be so easily and simply 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


109 


solved. The government must study these many problems, 
must grapple with all their constituent elements, and must 
determine what policy under all the circumstances of the 
case will best fulfill the purpose, the ideals and the aspira¬ 
tions of our people. Upon the ability of the people’s chosen 
leaders faithfully to perform this task, depends the destiny 
of the nation. Had Congress and the president lacked the 
courage to face this problem, had they escaped their re¬ 
sponsibility by submitting it to a referendum vote, the evi¬ 
dence would plainly indicate that America would have come 
too late to save the world from the curse of German victory. 

Nor is this written in any spirit of disparagement of my 
fellow citizens. It is no slander on American patriotism 
that they would vote for peace until the case for war had 
been clearly made. Nor does it cast any reflection upon my 
native land to say that the great body of our electorate were 
not specialists in the problems of world politics, European 
diplomacy and military strategy that were involved. On the 
other hand, the wonderful spirit of sacrifice, the resistless 
enthusiasm, the militant patriotism, and the stern determina¬ 
tion and resolution, with which the nation rallied to the de¬ 
fense of the policy adopted by its chosen leaders, is the 
highest evidence one could seek of our loyalty, our char¬ 
acter and our common sense. 

The futility of majority votes is capable of indefinite il¬ 
lustration, and yet, because it is democratic in form, it is 
too willingly accepted as a substitute for hard study, states¬ 
manlike methods and official responsibility. Before the 
thirteenth amendment, slavery was a state matter, and yet 
it could hardly be argued that because the people of the 
southern states would have voted in favor of slavery, that 
a satisfactory solution would have been attained. In 1893, 
the people of Switzerland voted in favor of abolishing 
kosher beef, an act of religious intoleration and bigotry, and 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


110 

no one would argue that the problem of religious liberty 
had been satisfactorily adjusted. A few years since the 
municipal council of an American city enacted an ordinance 
that virtually deprived citizens of a certain race of their 
rights of liberty and property. At the time the ordinance 
met with a great wave of popular approval, but no one 
would to-day say that it solved any problems of liberty or 
racial conflicts. 

The truth is that popular votes on specific measures may 
be very valuable in some cases and equally mischievous in 
others. If the measure is simple in its elements, one upon 
which an intelligent public opinion is therefore possible, 
and if it is one that will be difficult to enforce, unless backed 
by an aggressive public opinion, a referendum vote is both 
efficacious and desirable. Prohibition is probably such a 
measure. But when the problem is complicated, outside the 
range of the information and experience of the average 
voter, and one requiring special knowledge or technical in¬ 
vestigation—and many of our modern problems are of this 
character—the counting of hands can not afford a rational 
or scientific solution. This is not saying that the people 
should not rule. It merely argues that when they rule they 
should rule intelligently. If they have technical problems 
to be solved, let them employ technical experts for their so¬ 
lution, instead of trying to become experts for themselves. 

This seems simple and obvious and yet it is difficult to 
work out in practise. To the person who approaches gov¬ 
ernment from the view-point of the needs and problems to 
be solved, there will be no danger. Seeing the needs first, 
he will naturally seek the instrument best suited to the case 
at hand. Such a one will not demand a referendum on tech¬ 
nical matters because it does not meet the needs of technical 
solution. But the average citizen does not have this view- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


111 


point or approach. When he is told to support the use of 
the referendum on a given issue, because it is democratic, 
his support is bound to come, regardless of the nature of 
the problem. When the demagogue, declaring that the voice 
of the people is the voice of God, seeks to “pass the buck” 
of official responsibility by the referendum vote, he is re¬ 
garded as a champion of democracy, yet in fact, he may 
have been a cowardly shirker. 

The third and final advantage to be urged for the func¬ 
tional approach, is that it makes clear the dramatic and ab¬ 
sorbingly human side of government. There is nothing in 
the study of the organization of the state administration 
that affords the basis of an appeal to the generous instincts 
of human nature, until the administration is seen in its 
functioning aspects, of safeguarding the public health, mak¬ 
ing war against the white man's plagfie, and the innumera¬ 
ble other functions discharged by the executive department. 
It is the functional side of government that has its story of 
heart interest for every normal person. 

Take for example the position of state fire marshal. If 
one's study of that department is based mainly on the stat¬ 
utory provisions creating it, the detailed duties placed upon 
its several members, and the rules and regulations for its 
procedure, it is difficult to conceive of anything that would 
be more deadly or monotonous to the student, or more bar¬ 
ren of results. But approach it from the other angle—the 
needs and conditions that led to its adoption—and one gets 
a vastly different result. The report of the fire marshal for 
Indiana for one year, for instance, shows that the citizens 
of Indiana, in that year, lost over six million dollars' worth 
of property and one hundred and twelve lives. Some of the 
tragic stories of the useless loss of life, and the wiping out, 
in a moment, of the savings of a lifetime, present rare op- 


112 


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portunities to secure the closest attention of the child, and to 
fix forever in his consciousness the grave public importance 
of this neglected office. 

I sat in a teachers’ institute, only a year ago, and heard the 
fire marshal of Indiana tell the teachers of the work of his 
department and make a resistless plea for their cooperation. 
He spoke for a full hour, and every teacher listened with 
eager attention, as he explained the common causes of fires, 
how the department was seeking to prevent them, and how 
they might aid in the campaign of education. The reason 
for their attention was not to be found in the eloquence of 
the speaker, nor in any special effort on his part to entertain 
his audience. The secret of his success lay in the fact that 
he made it clear, as he went along, that the work in which 
he was engaged and in which he sought their aid, was the 
work of saving human beings from a horrible death by fire, 
and of safeguarding homes against a real and ever-present 
peril. 

There is not a department in our government so insig¬ 
nificant, so far removed from the field of popular interest, 
or so immersed in technical details, but what, if approached 
from the point of view of the functions it performs, can 
produce its stories of absorbing interest. In the chapters 
that are to follow, this point will be illustrated time and 
time again, in order that no one can miss the human sig¬ 
nificance of government. 

In the remainder of the chapter I desire to illustrate very 
briefly how this idea may be carried out in connection with 
the different topics covered in an ordinary course in civics. 

In the first place let us begin the study of organized so¬ 
ciety with its smallest unit, the one with which every child 
is familiar, and where we can begin dealing with the sub¬ 
jects and concepts of society in terms of the child’s personal 
experience. We will, therefore, begin with the family. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


113 


Here we must begin with the question, ‘‘Why ?” Why do we 
have a family? What is its purpose and function? What 
need was there that brought the family into existence? Let 
us not make the mistake of giving dogmatic answers to the 
problems, and destroying the fruits of our method. Rather 
by artful suggestion and leading question, let us direct the 
inquiring mind of the child along profitable channels of in¬ 
vestigation. In all civilized and uncivilized countries we 
have the family. There must be some need, common to 
mankind, that the family has to solve. Set that question as 
the initial problem. Let the pupil realize that in the most 
commonplace things about him are deep and interesting 
puzzles to challenge his instinct of curiosity. 

Nor should we pass on until the class has found the an¬ 
swer to the problem, until they have found that the family 
is not a mere accidental creation, or a mere matter of con¬ 
venience, but a vital social necessity, involving the most 
fundamental personal and social obligations. Let them 
realize in their early years that upon the integrity of the 
family, and the proper performance of its functions, rest 
the destiny and happiness of society. They can realize the 
necessity of the family as a means to protect and train the 
young and as a source of comfort, happiness and inspira¬ 
tion for its members. From the realization of these vital 
truths, and from them alone, can spring that respect and 
devotion to the family which lies at the very basis of our so¬ 
ciety. 

Having discovered that the family is a cooperative ar¬ 
rangement, to perform certain very vital and important 
functions, it is natural to inquire as to the methods and ma¬ 
chinery adopted to this end. In the first place there must 
be certain rules or regulations, without which everything 
would be confusion. Why do we have a fixed hour for 
dinner? Why not let everybody eat dinner whenever he 


114 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


felt so disposed? Why apportion out the work to the dif¬ 
ferent members of the family? Why not allow each mem¬ 
ber to perform just such tasks as each might choose ? These 
and similar questions will drive home to youthful conscious¬ 
ness, in terms of their own experience, the inherent neces¬ 
sity of rules and regulations to any cooperative effort. Nor 
is there much danger that this can be overdone, if done in 
a skilful and tactful manner. It will impress on youthful 
consciousness something that many people have failed to 
acquire in a lifetime, a real understanding of the nature and 
necessity of law. 

But who makes these rules? Who decides how these 
things shall be done ? Why not allow each child to make his 
own rules and provide his own plans? Thus is introduced 
the idea of authority which is vested in the parents, and 
which must be vested in some definite body in every co¬ 
operative effort. Thus, in the family, we are able to develop 
very clearly and in terms of the pupil’s experience, the con¬ 
ceptions of law, authority and organization, which lie at the 
very basis of government and society. 

When the possibilities of the family have been exhausted, 
the time has come to develop the idea that the family can 
not live unto itself alone. There are many things that we 
must have that the family can not provide. The children 
must have kindergartens and schools and yet every family 
can not have its own educational system. There must be 
roads by which children can get to school, and people may 
go to market, and yet everybody can not build his own high¬ 
ways. Unfortunate people become sick or old and can not 
work, and yet other people can not take them into their 
homes, or permit them to die for want of shelter or of food. 
Occasionally parents die, leaving little children that must be 
educated, fed and clothed, and yet there is nQ one to care 
for them. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


115 


These are some of the problems that the families of a 
given district have tried to solve by joining in some form 
of local government, such as townships and counties. The 
local governments have laid out highways in order to enable 
the people of a community to pass to and fro when it was 
necessary and convenient. They have developed machinery 
for the care and upkeep of these highways. They have 
established school districts and school boards, built school- 
houses, employed teachers, and made it possible for all 
children, rich and poor, to get an education. This has re¬ 
quired the expenditure of great sums of money and the de¬ 
velopment of school regulations and rules. This means that 
some one must be given the power to get the money from 
the people, by levying taxes and collecting them. This re¬ 
quires additional machinery, and men to provide for these 
elaborate and necessary functions. 

Then there are poor-farms and orphans’ homes that must 
be built and managed unless we are going to leave their 
helpless inmates to a cruel and brutal fate. In addition 
to all these things, there are jails to be erected, courts to be 
established, criminals to be arrested, fraud, theft and bur¬ 
glary to be prevented, epidemics of disease to be fought 
and countless other things that must necessarily be per¬ 
formed in any civilized community. It requires little imag¬ 
ination to see that these matters touch questions of human 
happiness at a myriad different points. It becomes equally 
obvious that local government is a means to an end, a mere 
cooperative device by which the people of a community 
jointly solve their common problems. It follows, with equal 
clearness, that the laws that they develop, like the customs 
and rules of the home, are but the essential conditions to 
effective and harmonious effort. 

Thus far we have been considering rural government 
only. When people gather together into compact and 


116 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


crowded communities that we call villages and cities, there 
are still additional problems that the conditions of city life 
present, which require a solution. Streets must be paved, 
lighted and cleaned, garbage must be disposed of, fire pro¬ 
tection must be assured, building regulations must be adopted 
that will protect the interests of health and safety, and 
parks, playgrounds and similar conveniences must be estab¬ 
lished. Tenement-house regulations must be developed, an 
efficient system of transportation established, and an ad¬ 
equate and wholesome water supply must be afforded. In 
addition to these institutional needs, there are demands for 
many kinds of regulations that would be unnecessary in 
rural communities. 

The danger of fire in congested districts requires elab¬ 
orate building codes, to insure the erection of buildings that 
will not increase the risk. The crowded condition of the 
city streets requires traffic regulations to safeguard life and 
limb and to prevent the traffic from becoming hopelessly 
confused. In rural communities, the question of sewerage 
and garbage disposal is one that may be safely left to the 
individual family, but in urban communities, where epi¬ 
demics of diseases are more common, and where people live 
so close together that the collection of sewerage in one home 
jeopardizes the health of all the homes in the vicinity, these 
things must be arranged by law. People must accept these 
limitations upon individual discretion as a necessary means 
of preserving health. 

Then there comes the fundamental and intricate problem 
of city planning. If the people are to have an efficient city 
in which to live, it ought to be built and developed in ac¬ 
cordance with a careful plan, by which the most wholesome 
places for homes may be so utilized, and the manufacturing, 
distributing and terminal facilities so grouped that the max¬ 
imum of efficiency will be attained. People can not be al- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


117, 


lowed to build just where they will, but ought to conform to 
a general program that will make the city more beautiful, 
more wholesome and more efficient. And so we might go 
on indefinitely, pointing out the peculiar problems that arise 
where people are living under the urban conditions of mod¬ 
ern life. 

It was to meet these conditions that city governments 
have been developed. It was to solve these complex prob¬ 
lems that there has been developed the vast bulk of munici-. 
pal ordinances and other laws, dealing with the special 
problems of city life. Municipal government and functions, 
like all other laws and institutions, is thus a product of evo¬ 
lution and development, as men have struggled with the 
conditions that confronted them in the modern city. In this 
way the study of municipalities should be approached and 
developed. Beginning with the needs, that can be made very 
obvious, proceed to the instrumentalities for their solution. 
Proceed from the cause to the effect and you develop an 
interesting, a pedagogical, as well as a more intelligent ap-. 
proach. 

The development of city government in America has not 
been an inspiring spectacle. Until recent years it has not 
received either skilful or scientific handling. Many changes 
were made, and the framework can be traced through many 
periods of adventure, but little real progress was achieved 
until the last two decades. And the reason was to be found 
chiefly in the method of approach. They did not begin 
with a careful and accurate analysis of the inherent prob¬ 
lems of urban life, as a basis for the creation of municipal 
institutions carefully designed to solve these very prob¬ 
lems. In most cases the methods employed appear to have 
been much simpler in form. The people knew that there 
were great city problems without adequate machinery for 
their solution. They supposed the form of government was 


118 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


inadequate, and they began to pattern it more or less like 
the federal government, or perhaps the particular state 
government that they admired. Then they began to try out 
certain governmental theories, based upon their general 
plausibility or inherent reasonableness, rather than upon 
their particular appropriateness to the task at hand. The 
result was an admitted failure of city government in 
America. 

With the development of the commission form of city 
government, there began a new interest in the problem, and 
a real scientific effort to analyze the conditions and to devise 
a system of government that would meet existing problems. 
Out of this has evolved the different plans of the business 
manager form, and there is now reason to believe that real 
progress is being made. That progress will be conditioned, 
however, upon the degree of popular intelligence in regard 
to civic problems. For another wholesome result of the 
present scientific spirit is the recognition that structural re¬ 
forms alone can not suffice. The most skilfully devised 
government that can be arranged is, after all, only the in¬ 
strument or machinery through which the people of the 
community can function. The only enduring foundation, 
therefore, upon which our municipal democracy can rest, 
is the character, patriotism and intelligence of the people. 

Thus we find that city organization, like the family and 
the rural government, came into existence in answer to 
pressing human needs. It represents necessary steps in 
the development of the great cooperative process that we 
call society. The institutions created are entrusted with 
the solving of existing problems whose accurate solution is 
indispensable to human happiness. The laws that we find 
on every hand, like the rules of the family in the home, are 
the indispensable means by which our joint efforts may be¬ 
come effective. Based upon these human needs, government 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


119 


is necessarily a human institution, and its success or failure 
even in apparently insignificant details, is a story written in 
terms of tragedy and pathos, that should find a rich emcn 
tional response in every normal child. 

We come now to the state government where the same 
method of approach and the same general principles should 
be employed. In spite of all the varied functions performed 
by the family, and by local rural and urban government, 
there are still many things to be accomplished, many ends 
to be sought, and many ideals to be realized, where these 
institutions could not avail. We have noticed that the ques^ 
tion of highways is a very important one to all forms of local 
government, and yet, it is a question of such general im¬ 
portance, that it can not be left to them alone. One county; 
might decide that its main highway should run east and west, 
an adjoining county might build its trunk line north and 
south, while yet another might come to still a different con¬ 
clusion. Under such circumstances, an effective highway sys¬ 
tem from one county to another, throughout the state, would 
be impossible. And yet this is a very obvious need, which 
can be adequately met only by organizing a political unit, 
comprising many counties, which we call a state. One of 
the important functions of every state government to-day 
is the development of an adequate system of state highways. 

The necessity of laws governing the ownership of land, 
regulating sales of personal property, and providing for 
valid contracts, in order to enable people to carry on the 
ordinary duties and necessities of life, existed among the 
more primitive peoples, and is an obvious necessity to-day. 
The making, interpreting and enforcing of these laws, is 
another function that the state is organized to perform. 
It might be argued that such was not necessary, for the 
local governments might attend to that, but a moment's 
reflection shows how impossible is such a scheme. Suppose 


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this was done, and there were as many laws governing the 
validity of a contract as there were counties in the state, 
conditions would be intolerable. A man's contracts, valid 
in one county, might be void in another. Under such cir¬ 
cumstances there could be no general trade or commercial 
relations, for they depend upon certainty and uniformity 
in their legal foundations, and this could come only from 
the state. 

The regulation of railroads in the interest of the public 
safety, better service, and reasonable rates—a very neces¬ 
sary function in modem times—is another condition neces¬ 
sitating the existence of the state. For if this were left to 
counties, there would be hopeless complexity. Suppose, 
for example, that one county required that passenger coaches 
be heated with steam, another county demanded that they 
be heated with hot water, and still another that they use 
the vapor system. Any one of these regulations would, in 
itself, be reasonable, but to have to comply with all three, 
on a trip through adjoining counties, would be an intolerable 
hardship that would virtually prevent efficient service and 
do nobody any good. 

The question of public health is one of the needs that 
made local government necessary, and yet it is a problem 
that also demands the attention of the state. One county 
may become careless in matters of public health. Epidemics 
may break out, which through the carelessness of local offi¬ 
cials, may spread to adjoining counties. With our modern 
means of communication, contagious diseases may spread 
with great rapidity and ease from one community to another. 
Thus, every community has a very definite interest, not only 
in its own health, but also an interest in the health and wel¬ 
fare of others. Consequently the state is resorted to for 
the purpose of supplementing the work of local health 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 121 

authorities, and initiating measures of its own for the pro¬ 
tection of all. 

The relation of these functions to the health and happi¬ 
ness of the people is very vital. The number of lives saved 
by the state health departments in the recent epidemics of 
influenza would doubtless run into the tens of thousands. 
Likewise, the lives that might have been spared, had the 
departments of all the states been up to the maximum of 
efflciency, would doubtless run into the thousands. 

Again, the question of education is generally regarded as 
a local matter, to be attended to by local government. It 
is true that much of the work of building and maintain¬ 
ing the public school system devolves upon the local com¬ 
munities, but there are important matters of education, 
which we have found it expedient to leave to the state de¬ 
partment. The reasons for this are not hard to seek. The 
question of the education of youth of the land is not con¬ 
fined to local groups. It is as broad as the foundations of 
our democracy. Every citizen of the state, regardless of his 
place of residence, has a vital interest in the efficiency of 
schools in every corner of the state. To permit ignorance 
to develop in any section, or to allow the people of any 
portion to rear children who are not prepared for civic duty, 
would be to undermine the foundations of democracy and 
imperil our future. 

Moreover, in those sections where the popular intelligence 
is the lowest, and where education is needed the most, the 
educational system, under a system of absolute local con¬ 
trol, would there be the poorest. It has been found neces¬ 
sary, therefore, to create state departments of education, 
to give them certain administrative control over local educa¬ 
tional matters, in order that the people of the state may be 
assured of a system of education, of a certain standard of 


122 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


efficiency throughout the state, regardless of local feeling 
and interests. 

In other words, no community can be a law unto itself. 
( There are vital, valid reasons why the units of government 
are created as large and comprehensive as they are. There 
is a real human reason for every department, every bureau, 
every division and every office in the government of your 
state, and if there is not, that office or bureau ought to be 
abolished. The introduction to state government should 
be another repetition, by fresh illustration, of the funda¬ 
mental principles that government is a means to an end, 
that the test of its efficiency is its capacity to serve the best 
interests of humanity, that its laws and institutions are but 
the necessary instruments through which the people work 
out their destiny, that every function performed has a deep 
human significance, and that it is only through the coopera¬ 
tive process, made possible through law and order, that 
progress is achieved. 

This brings us to the consideration of the federal govern¬ 
ment, where the same method should be repeated. After 
the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies found 
themselves thirteen independent, sovereign nations. During 
the continuance of war, the pressure of a common foe held 
them together in a partly efficient state of cooperative en¬ 
deavor, under the common counsel and guidance of the 
Continental Congress. But when the war was won, and 
this pressure was removed, the differences between the colo¬ 
nies received new emphasis. They tried in every possible 
way to gain the ends that each colony desired, without com¬ 
mitting themselves to any effective, cooperative endeavor, 
but conditions grew worse instead of better. 

They became involved in boundary disputes that 
threatened serious controversies. While there was a pro¬ 
vision in the Articles of Confederation for the settlement 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


123 


of such disputes, there was no effective way of enforcing it. 
New York, New Hampshire and Massachusetts almost came 
to blows over territory that is now Vermont. There was 
actual warfare between the citizens of Connecticut and 
Pennsylvania over disputed rights to Wyoming Valley. 
Similar disputes between other colonies threatened the peace 
and prosperity of the country. 

Then there were commercial rivalries, resulting in trade 
discriminations and retaliatory legislation. For example. 
New York proceeded on the theory that she could prosper 
only by tearing down the trade and well-being of her com¬ 
petitors. She discriminated against Connecticut and New 
Jersey, until war seemed probable, and it required the re¬ 
sourcefulness and influence of Washington to preserve peace. 
Hostility was carried to such a point that it resulted in a 
boycott and embargo being resorted to by Connecticut 
against New York, while general freedom of trade and 
commerce, that would have been profitable to all, was very 
substantially impaired. In describing the disordered state 
produced by these conditions John Fiske declared: “The 
different states with their different tariff and tonnage acts, 
began to make commercial war upon one another. No 
sooner had the other three New England States virtually 
closed their ports to British shipping, than Connecticut 
threw hers wide open, an act which she followed up by 
laving duties upon imports from Massachusetts. Pennsyl¬ 
vania discriminated against Delaware, and New Jersey, 
pillaged at once by both her greater neighbors, was compared 
to a cask tapped at both ends. The conduct of New York 
became especially selfish and blameworthy. . . . Of all 

the thirteen states, none behaved worse except Rhode 
Island.” 

More important still, perhaps, was the inability of the 
thirteen colonies to make adequate provision for protection 


124 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


against foreign foes. If the Continental Congress entered 
into an agreement with foreign countries, and a particular 
colony felt that it might profit by refusing to be so bound, 
it disregarded the treaty stipulation and the Continental 
Congress was powerless to prevent. Thus our foreign re¬ 
lations could not be satisfactorily adjusted, which only 
increased the danger from foreign enemies. Moreover, 
the capacity of the colonies to wage effective warfare de¬ 
pended, in a large measure, upon their being able to finance 
their projects, pay their debts, and build up a national 
credit. But there was no effective means by which this 
could be accomplished. The Continental Congress would 
impose certain quotas on the colonies, but it had no way of 
enforcing payment. Each colony, fearful lest it pay more 
than its fair share and dissatisfied with the method of ap¬ 
portionment, vied with every other colony in seeking to give 
a relatively smaller share of the sum demanded. The in¬ 
evitable followed. From 1781 to 1786, Congress laid requi¬ 
sitions to the amount of ten million dollars, but received 
from the colonies less than one-fourth of that amount. 
During the fourteen months immediately preceding the 
formation of the Federal Constitution, there was not enough 
paid into the general treasury to pay even the interest on 
the national debt. Under such conditions the colonies faced 
bankruptcy and an absolute loss of credit, both at home and 
abroad. In the face of such conditions they could scarcely 
hope to contend successfully with any foe that might as¬ 
sail them. 

These and many other facts, the enumeration of which 
is prohibited by the limit of space, made the formation of 
the federal government absolutely imperative. The colo¬ 
nies, as already observed in a previous chapter, did not unite 
in the federal government because they had lost any of 
their devotion to their individual states, nor because fric- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


125 


tion, jealousy and hatred between them had disappeared, 
nor because they were moved by any spirit of universal 
love. They joined in the federal government because bitter 
experience had taught them that they must. Like every 
successful institution of government that exists, it was 
framed to meet certain specific needs that could not be ade¬ 
quately met without it. The colonists built it, not out of 
love for the idea of a national government, but because they 
had come to believe that it was only through such an 
instrumentality that the freedom, security and liberty of 
the states could be made permanently secure. 

History has amply vindicated the soundness of their 
judgment. The functions of the federal government have 
gradually increased. They are so obviously important and 
make such clear appeals to the emotional life, that that 
phase of the problem does not need additional illustration 
here. 

Finally, we come to the question of foreign policy, world 
politics and international affairs. The new eminence that 
America occupies in world affairs, can not and must not 
be ignored. No course in citizenship that did not introduce 
this subject can be complete. Here, again, we should 
use the same approach. Just as neither the home, the city, 
nor the state can exist independently, because of the nature, 
extent and character of their needs, so nations can not 
dwell in absolute and “splendid isolation,” however much 
they might so desire. The life of our present civilization 
is too complex to permit it. We need things produced 
in all the sections of the earth’s surface, and, to a more or 
less extent, other nations need the products of our soil and 
effort. This means international commerce and dealings, in¬ 
ternational agreements, treaties and understandings, and 
international friction, conflicts and difficulties. 

To meet these needs, the statesmen of the world have been 


126 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


struggling for centuries to evolve a system of law as an 
effective basis for the growing needs of our international 
life. The body of international law that we now have, is 
the result. In addition to some of the fundamental needs 
thus provided for, the nations found it would be highly use¬ 
ful to arrange for international postal service and telegraph 
service. The different customs provisions of the different 
countries, the lack of a uniform system of weights and 
measures, the need of a world-wide struggle against certain 
types of disease, and many other matters, have been forcing 
the nations farther and farther along the line of international 
organization and administration. As a consequence we have 
to-day such accomplished results in the field of international 
organization as the Universal Postal Union, Universal Tele¬ 
graph Union, Universal Wireless Telegraph Union, an 
International Union for the Publication of Customs Tariffs* 
International Bureau of Health, and many others. 

Another method of meeting the national needs of an inter¬ 
national character, has been the development of foreign 
policies on the part of the individual nations. Such policies 
are promulgated as a basis of conduct for the nation in¬ 
volved, in the belief that it will be a valuable instrument 
in the protection of national interests. The Monroe Doc¬ 
trine is such a policy and should be approached and studied 
from this angle. It is a means to an end. It is the promul¬ 
gation of a principle of conduct for America, which we be¬ 
lieve will best preserve our national interests. 

The greatest problem between nations, however, is the 
problem of war and peace. To meet this problem has been 
the age-long dream of statesmen and philosophers. The 
development of international law, the growth and rapidity 
of international conferences over world affairs, the increas¬ 
ing tendency to submit important claims to arbitration, the 
Hague Conferences—all are methods contributing to this 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


127 


solution. The proposed league of nations, now being con¬ 
sidered by the great nations of the world, is the next step 
that is proposed. Like all other political developments, 
this proposal has come in answer to an obvious need, in this 
case, an appalling need. It is only in approaching it from 
this angle that we can hope to reach an intelligent conclusion. 
Will it be an effective instrument to safeguard the peace 
and justice of the world, without the resort to the devas¬ 
tating crime of war? 

Thus, we find our foreign relations, as well as all other 
departments of our political life, bear witness to the basic 
idea and point of view that is essential to civic intelligence. 
Much of the popular misinformation regarding the league 
of nations would never have developed were we accustomed 
to approach problems of politics from the standpoint of 
fundamental needs. Again, in the development of inter¬ 
national law, we find the same idea exemplified that we 
found in the rules and regulations of the home, that in 
the last analysis, law is a basis of cooperative effort, and 
for that reason an absolute necessity to any kind of modern 
society. 

If the nature of the law, and its importance as the basis of 
our political and social life, seems to have been too much 
emphasized, let the reader pause and meditate. As I write 
this chapter, I am informed that a great body of organized 
men have determined to set aside a lawful agreement be¬ 
tween them and their country, to stop some of the funda¬ 
mental instruments of production and distribution, to bring 
on a state of starvation and famine, in wanton violation 
of the law, because they do not want Congress to approve' 
a certain section of a pending bill. The offending measure 
may be unwise or unjust. It may, perhaps, be open to fair* 
and intelligent criticism. But when the organized laboring 
men of America base their appeal to Congress upon threats 


>128 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


of illegal force and brutal intimidation, the time has come 
for those who believe in law and justice as against the 
forces of arbitrary power, to assert themselves. 

This, together with the prevalence of mob law, the re¬ 
cent outbreaks of race riots, and the growth of a radical, 
lawless class, may well cause us to pause and wonder. These 
individual outbreaks may bring on others or may be used 
to illustrate the fundamental need of a return to first prin¬ 
ciples, to demonstrate the inherent need of law, and that 
law alone can afford a safe basis of progress or achievement. 
If this can be made a part of the conscious life and thought 
of the children of America, if they can learn this great 
fundamental truth as a basis of their life philosophy, if 
they can approach the problem of the future from this 
point of view, the freedom and destiny of our nation may be 
safely entrusted into their keeping. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. How can the functional approach be used in the study of your 
community? What specific functions would you utilize? 

2. Are there any practical difficulties in using the functional ap¬ 
proach in all social science work? Are they insuperable? What are 
they? 

3. Are there any subjects in civics where the functional approach 
can not be used with profit ? 

4. Can the rules and regulations used in the school be utilized in 
developing an understanding of the importance and function of law? 

5. How far can student government be profitably employed as a 
laboratory method of studying the nature and character of law? 

6. Would the detailed explanation of the purpose of the rules 
adopted in the school and their discussion by the students aid in the 
understanding of the nature and function of law? 

7. What is the psychological explanation of the fact that govern¬ 
ment is more interesting when studied from the view-point of its 
functions ? 

8. Explain in detail the relation between the evolutionary point of 
view and the functional approach. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


129 


9. If all citizens acquired the functional approach what specific 
effect would it have upon the efficiency of democracy? What evils 
would it eliminate? 

10. Give illustrations of political reforms which have been formu¬ 
lated without regard to the needs of the public. How would the 
functional approach have affected this ? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Brewer, David J., American Citizenship (Yale University Press, 
New Haven, 1902). 

Chapter IV, ‘‘Obligation of Obedience.” 

Lowell, A. Lawrence, Public Opinion and Popular Government 
(Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1913). 

Part III, “Methods of Expressing Public Opinion.” 

Part IV, “The Regulation of Matters to Which Public Opin¬ 
ion Cannot Directly Apply.” 

Bradford, Ernest S., Commission Government in American Cities 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1911). 

Reed, Thomas Harrison, Form and Functions of American Govern¬ 
ment (World Book Company, Yonkers, N. Y., 1916). 

Part I, “The Background of American Government.” 

Hall, Arnold B., Monroe Doctrine and the World War (A. C. Mc- 
Clurg Company, Chicago, 1920). 

Chapter I, “The Foundations of the Monroe Doctrine.” 

Chapter II, “Formulation of the Monroe Doctrine.” 

Chapter III, “Evolution of the Doctrine 1823-1869.” 

Chapter IV, “Evolution of the Doctrine 1869-1918.” 

Chapter V, “The Pacific and the Far East.” 

Chapter VI, “Dollar Diplomacy and the Caribbean.” 

Chapter VII, “Enforcement of the Doctrine.” 

Kimball, Everett, The National Government of the United States 
(Ginn & Co., Boston, 1920). 

Chapter I, “Constitutional Background.” 

Chapter II, “The Evolution of the Constitution.” 

Chapter III, “Making the Constitution.” 

Chapter IV, “Constitutional Principles.” 

Fiske, John, American Political Ideas (Houghton, Mifflin Company, 
Boston, 1911). 

Farrand, Max, The Framing of the Constitution (Yale University 
Press, New Haven, Conn., 1913). 


130 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


Kasson, John A., The Evolution of the Constitution of the United 
States of America and the History of the Monroe Doctrine / 
(Houghton, Mifflin Company, Boston, 1904). 

Cleveland, Frederick A., Organized Democracy (Longmans, Green 
& Co., New York, 1913). 

Munro, William Bennett, The Government of the United States 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1919). 

Chapters I-VI. 

Young, James T., The New American Government and Its Work 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1915). 

Chapter XXVIII, “Public Opinion” 

Chapter XXIX, “Direct Legislation” (Short Ballot). 


CHAPTER VI 


THE STORY OF THE COMMUNITY 



NUMBER of years ago, in a small city of some four 


i\ thousand inhabitants, there occurred a dramatic politi¬ 
cal conflict that shook the community to its very center. 
The city had been made dry under a local option law. The 
city officials, however, had consistently refused to enforce 
the law. The saloons were operating without a license. 
Gambling was carried on notoriously and without restraint. 
Immorality and lawlessness flourished, until the citizens 
of the community became aroused. They demanded the 
enforcement of the law, but without effect. Public opinion 
seemed impotent. 

To meet this situation, a group of citizens organized and 
prepared to fight the evil. It seemed that victory must 
be assured, for the clear majority of the community were 
unhesitatingly arrayed upon the side of public decency. 
They put forward their chosen candidates for the offices 
of mayor and marshal. These candidates confidently entered 
the primary of the dominant party. They were pledged 
to a program of law enforcement, and on that platform 
sought to defeat the renomination of the sitting officers. 

The party primary election was in the form of a mass 
convention, open to all the party members of the city. It 
was held in a room scarcely large enough to contain all the 
voters of the party. The members turned out en masse. 
It seemed clear that the forces of righteousness would pre¬ 
vail. But unexpected complications arose. The enemy, 
seeing themselves outnumbered, fought for delay. They 


131 


132 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


resorted to all manner of obstructive tactics. They caused 
needless confusion and disorder. Their henchmen, well 
supplied with cheap cigars, filled the atmosphere with ob¬ 
noxious smoke, until even the most hardened and ex¬ 
perienced suffered some inconvenience. Hoodlums, half 
drunk, were turned loose to ‘Tough-house” the assembly, 
much to the consternation and discomfiture of the elder and 
more dignified of the group. 

As these tactics were continued, and as the night wore 
on, the more timid and less aggressive gave up the fight, 
and turned toward home. Moreover, only those quit who 
were on the side of decency. This continued until their 
enemies were left with a majority, when obstructions seemed 
to cease, nominations were made, and the forces of evil 
prevailed. It was the old, old story of the strongly organ¬ 
ized minority, out fighting the loosely organized and in¬ 
different majority. The friends of criminality fought with 
fidelity and determination. They never hesitated until the 
fight was won. Their opponents lacked the sustained in¬ 
terest, the fixed determination and the effective team work 
that could give them victory. 

Nor is this an isolated or unusual incident. It is typical 
of what is continually taking place throughout our land. 
The power of the determined, organized minority to rule 
is an established axiom in our political life. Nor does it 
mean the loss of popular government, as superficial critics 
would have us think. In the party convention just described 
there was no breakdown in popular control. Every man 
had an equal voice, and the opportunity to make that voice 
effective. But many did not place a high value on that 
opportunity. They voluntarily chose the ease and comfort 
of home, to the political struggle for the supremacy of their 
ideals. They deliberately and knowingly left the nomination 
of candidates for public office to the discretion and judg- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


133 


ment of those they left behind. They, in fact, by voluntarily 
absenting themselves, delegated their choice of candidates 
to those who had remained. 

In spite of these conditions, the local papers and the good 
citizens of the town decried the absence of popular govern¬ 
ment. They declared the bosses and machines had robbed 
them of their victory. Democracy no longer existed, and 
in its place had been erected an invisible government that 
ruled with despotic power. Thus the good people of the 
community sought the comfort of a spiritual or moral alibi. 
They criticized everything and everybody but themselves, 
and yet they, themselves, were the only ones to blame. They 
accepted the orthodox accounts of invisible government, 
with its grasping tyranny, as a vicarious atonement for 
their own evils of indifference and neglect. When the local 
press declared its abiding confidence in the integrity, courage 
and idealism of the community, and laid all the blame upon 
the wicked machinations of the political machine, the people 
responded with unanimous approval. Here was the voice 
of a prophet for which they long had yearned. Here was 
a message that met their every need. It salved their con¬ 
science, it flattered their intelligence, and it “passed the 
buck.” It released them from any possible share of personal 
responsibility, and provided a cleansing bath of spiritual 
and moral immunity. 

Therein lies one of the great tragedies of democracy. 
Instead of facing his mistakes and taking responsibility for 
the consequences of his error, the citizen seeks escape 
through the sophistries of the demagogue. In the city I 
have described, there was no invisible government with 
resistless power. There was no lack of democracy. There 
was no machine to coerce the popular will. All such talk 
was sheer, unadulterated political “bunk.” There were 
present all the instrumentalities of popular government. 


134 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


The people could have nominated whom they pleased had 
they had sufficient interest to fight it to the finish. Had 
they been willing to sacrifice a few hours of personal in¬ 
convenience, the victory would have been their own. Nothing 
could have won for the wicked, save the indifference of the 
virtuous. Nobody could be nominated, save by the votes 
or the acquiescence of the majority. True it is, the unfair 
tactics of the opposition made the victory a little more 
difficult to attain. But it was always possible. It was always 
within their grasp. It was only by their voluntary with¬ 
drawal that the enemy could win. 

Viewed from any angle, analyzed in any light, there is no 
escape from these conclusions. Yet had there been one in 
that little city, with the courage to tell the truth, and to say 
that the victory of the wicked was a voluntary gift from 
the righteous, there would have arisen a chorus of outraged 
indignation. And yet such were the plain unvarnished facts. 

A study of the community which is to contribute to the 
solution of its problems, and the civic efficiency of its mem¬ 
bers, can not ignore this fundamental situation. Out of 
such a study, there should come a vivid consciousness of 
the vital facts of political life; instead of the complacent 
acceptance of the flattery of demagogues, there should de¬ 
velop a keen, dynamic interest in the welfare of the com¬ 
munity, with an accompanying conviction of personal ac¬ 
countability. Unless these things follow, education becomes 
pedantic, impotent and unreal. 

How may these things be accomplished ? Certainly much 
can be done by bringing to bear upon the study of one’s 
neighborhood, the evolutionary point of view and the habit 
of critical analysis. From these there will inevitably result 
an increasing interest in the community itself, as the un¬ 
raveling of its story discloses the romance and human 
interest locked up in its history. Thus the story of the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


135 


community will be a constant challenge to the student’s 
instinct of curiosity. As the satisfying of this instinct takes 
the student deeper and deeper into the intimate details of his 
surroundings, there is laid the basis for a growing interest 
in community welfare and an affectionate attachment to its 
destinies. As these forces gather strength, the student is 
being splendidly equipped for the political battles of the 
future. For in the last analysis, the reason the determined 
organized minorities so frequently win, is that they are 
more interested in the triumph of their cause than are their 
opponents in the welfare of their city. The members of 
the determined minority very frequently have a bread-and- 
butter interest. Their jobs or their investments may be at 
stake. On the other hand, the great bulk of the people 
have no interest more vital than their general desire that 
the good shall ultimately prevail. If we want them to take 
a more dynamic interest, we must develop in them a more 
vital attachment to their community and its welfare. 

Much has been written, from time to time, concerning the 
proverbial incompetence of city government in America, 
as compared with the city governments of other lands. In 
this connection, it has occasionally been pointed out, with 
great significance, that the people of the average city in 
America take much less pride and interest in their city 
and its affairs than do the residents of foreign cities. Un¬ 
doubtedly there is a vital connection between the two. It 
is not difficult to see, that, with an increased interest and 
pride in one’s city, there would go an increased willingness 
to fight and labor in its behalf. 

But how do we account for the difference in local interest? 
Perhaps the most persuasive explanation is to be found in 
the migratory nature of our population. In many European 
cities we are told that the same families will live in the same 
cities, in the same neighborhood, and even in the same 


136 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


house, for generations. Under such circumstances there 
develops a wealth of romance and tradition, handed down 
from father to son, permeating every detail of their environ¬ 
ment. The very familiarity of the scenes, the intimate 
knowledge of its details, and the deep personal significance 
that would attach to the otherwise commonplace elements 
in the situation, would result in a deep and affectionate 
regard for the community, such as one experiences for the 
scenes of his early home and childhood. 

In America, however, where our population is in a con¬ 
tinual migratory state, such a romantic and human interest 
in the community, where one happens for the moment to 
reside, is almost impossible. <We have many cities where 
the percentage of native born is infinitesimal, and some 
states where their native sons form but a minor portion of 
their population. Moreover, where people do live in cities 
for any time, the tendency to move about from place to 
place is so well established that moving day, in our larger 
cities, has become an established institution. Add to this 
the great hordes of foreigners that annually seek our shores, 
and we have a situation that is as perplexing as it is danger¬ 
ous. 

It seems fairly obvious, that, under such circumstances, 
the development of a pride and interest in local affairs 
will not be automatic. If we are to have men and women 
deeply interested in community life, that interest must be 
the result of early training and education. By formal in¬ 
struction and study we must seek to overcome, in developing 
an affectionate attachment for the locality, the unfortunate 
handicap imposed by the shifting character of our popula¬ 
tion. At the same time the student will be learning that, 
in the history of his neighborhood, there are stories of ab¬ 
sorbing interest, and in the fighting of its battles, there is 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


137 


the zest and exaltation that come to those who struggle in 
a worthy cause. 

Another by-product of community study is that it opens 
up new lines of interest, stretching far back into our nation’s 
history, and in extent, throughout the nation and the world. 
The history of every neighborhood is so inseparably inter¬ 
woven with the history of the nation and humanity, that 
these new lines of contact are varied and inevitable. As a 
result, when the maturing child, in other subjects or ad¬ 
vanced studies, again crosses these old familiar lines of 
interest, he experiences that glow of satisfaction and joy 
that comes to all of us in the crossing of familiar paths. 
He begins to realize the intimate relations between all phases 
of human effort. He is laying the basis for a source of joy 
that may endure through life, as he has the opportunity to 
indulge his historical interest. 

The possibilities of education in establishing these famil¬ 
iar paths, were brought home to me very vividly one day, 
several years ago. I was taking an all-day trip through a 
neighboring state with a friend of my college days. It was 
dry, hot and dusty. I was bored by the scenery as I saw 
only trees, dirt and dusty vegetation. By skilfully taking 
advantage of a technical loop-hole, inadvertently left by the 
faculty of my alma mater, I had been able to graduate 
without the required courses in botany and geology. My 
friend had not been so clever. The result was that he found 
in the passing scenery, not mere dirt and dusty vegetation, 
but interesting geological formations, that possessed for 
him an absorbing interest, an interest that diverted his 
attention time and time again throughout the day. He was 
crossing familiar paths that I was too blind and ignorant 
to see. If we can build in the intellectual equipment of 
youth these familiar paths, leading into many and varied 


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phases of social and political life, rich in the romance and 
experience of youth, we will be building dynamic sources 
of power and energy, and developing a capacity for interest 
in one’s community, that may yield large dividends for 
society in the years that are ahead. Those who receive such 
a training will be found better and more zealous guardians 
of the community’s welfare. Against them the organized 
minority can not so easily prevail. 

In teaching the story of the community, the same funda¬ 
mental principles already discussed and illustrated in pre¬ 
vious chapters, should prevail. It will be my purpose for 
the remainder of this chapter to illustrate the application 
of those principles, in the study of local history, and to 
indicate how, thereby, a vital interest in community life 
may be developed. For purposes of illustration, I desire 
to use the city of Franklin, a typical Indiana town of about 
five thousand population. I select this town for the sole 
reason that I happen to know something of its history. 

To develop the spirit of critical inquiry, the teacher 
should begin with the setting of problems, not for his own 
decision but for solution by the pupil, acting under the 
direction and stimulus of the teacher. Such problems as 
would readily occur are the following: Why was the city 
named Franklin? When and by whom was it founded? 
Why was it located where it was? What are the forces 
that contribute to its growth ? Other towns have grown up, 
only to become deserted. Why has not Franklin been 
deserted ? These questions go directly into the fundamental 
problems underlying the community life, and yet they in¬ 
volve fundamental principles in their simplest forms, and 
capable of being comprehended in terms of the pupil’s ob¬ 
servation and experience. In the setting of such problems, 
the fullest possible appeal is made to the instinct of curiosity. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


139 


Methods of thought, analysis and observation are stimulated 
that too frequently are never employed. Things that before 
were regarded as monotonous and commonplace, under the 
stimulating genius of an artful teacher, now take on a deep 
and refreshing interest. But most important of all, the 
boy and girl are beginning to think, are beginning to have 
an interest in their community, and are beginning to come 
in contact with the vital facts of our social life. 

But a word of caution must be urged. Like any other 
method that is worth while, it is not perhaps so simple as 
it seems. It requires patience, tact and ingenuity. The 
whole idea would be wrecked if the teacher, having set the 
problem, should proceed to its solution. On the other hand, 
if left entirely to the resourcefulness of the pupil, time will 
be wasted, interest will lag and poor methods of thought 
and inquiry will prevail. The teacher must leave the solution 
to the pupil, but must tactfully keep her hand on the situa¬ 
tion, suggesting here, restraining there, calling attention 
to bad methods, loose thinking, or unworthy evidence, and 
so contriving all the while, that the pupils will find their own 
solution and win their own triumph, before the problem has 
lost its interest and the children their zest. 

Take the problem of why Franklin still continues to en¬ 
joy a normal growth instead of becoming a deserted town. 
Put that problem to the class. Bring it home to them, 
and ask them to find a solution. Why do people continue to 
live in Franklin? Some member of the class, perhaps, 
has moved there because the father was a county official, 
and he lives in Franklin because he has to work there. 
Another child may contribute the information that he knows 
a family that moved to Franklin in order to put their 
children through college. It follows that if there is a court¬ 
house and a college, that there must be living near them 


140 


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the officers, teachers and students. These people must have 
groceries, clothes, homes and fuel. It must be the business 
of others, therefore, to supply these necessaries. 

Then, there are factories and mills that have to have 
workmen, and they increase the need for still other people 
who can serve them, such as barbers, doctors, lawyers, 
and all forms of businesses, professions, occupations and 
trades. But are these all? Some pupil will have already 
thought of the people living out in the country and tilling 
the land, who need food, shelter, coal, machinery, supplies, 
and all kinds of skilled labor and professional service. A 
very large percentage of Franklin’s business comes from 
this productive source. Innumerable other matters will be 
suggested, thrashed out and tabulated as the children, stimu¬ 
lated by competitive zest, strive to bring new and significant 
facts to light. 

And what is the result? These children are learning, 
in a way they never will forget, the basic interrelationships 
that criss-cross through every phase and angle of com¬ 
munity life. I know grown men to-day who do not seem 
to comprehend that there are mutual relationships between 
capital and labor, and who still cling to the theory that the 
destruction of one will mean the well-being of the other. 
I know intelligent business men and bankers to-day who 
do not realize these mutual relationships between the 
farmer and the business man, and who can not comprehend 
that one of the most effective ways to promote the wealth 
of the city is to increase the prosperity of the farmer. They 
are blind to the obvious fact that the purchasing power 
of farmer customers is directly conditioned upon the pro¬ 
ductive capacity of his toil. 

I know so called hard-headed business men to-day who 
can not see that the problem of a community building and 
promotion is largely a problem of cooperative efficiency, 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


14U 


in which the forces of all should be devoted to increasing 
the efficiency of each. In view of these well-known facts, 
the real importance of directing youthful thought along 
lines of accurate thinking can scarcely be imagined. To 
equip the child with the fundamental comprehension of 
these interrelationships is a splendid start in the develop¬ 
ment of the efficient citizen. 

It is not possible to follow out here many of the problems 
that might be suggested, and we will, therefore, restrict our¬ 
selves to a limited few. Take, for example, the problem of 
how Franklin received its name. Some pupil would un¬ 
doubtedly guess that it was named after Benjamin Frank¬ 
lin, and there would then remain the question of why? 
Who was Franklin, and what was the evidence? A little 
investigation by the pupils, tactfully supervised by the 
teacher, would disclose the fact that Franklin was so named 
by the first Board of County Commissioners, upon the 
suggestion of one Samuel Herriott, the first clerk of John¬ 
son County. Mr. Herriott had just read the autobiography 
of Benjamin Franklin, and was so impressed with the genius 
and greatness of the man, and the profound wisdom evi¬ 
denced in the autobiography, that he took a direct interest 
in seeing that the city bore his name. Here is a natural 
and interesting introduction to one of the great men of 
America, and to a great autobiography. One student might 
be asked to give a brief report on Franklin, and another on 
his autobiography. Thus new lines of interest are opened 
up that reach far back into one of the significant periods 
of our nation’s history, which the student will cross and 
recross with increasing interest and joy as he recognizes 
the old familiar paths. 

Another problem that should be set is why Franklin 
developed where it did. Why was not the town built farther 
east or west, or north or south? Was it a mere accident or 


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DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


were there definite forces that controlled? What were 
these forces? Did the topography of the country have its 
influence? Did the fact that it was located in the center 
of the county, and therefore an appropriate location for a 
county-seat, have its influence ? Did the building of the old 
state road from Madison, north, through what is now Frank¬ 
lin, affect the situation? What influence did the railroad 
have ? Was the town located before the building of the rail¬ 
road, or vice versa ? These questions can not be answered 
here, but they illustrate the method of attack. A class of 
pupils that will grapple with these problems, and will make 
the recitation room a history laboratory, where all the 
students will bring their discoveries and ideas, and unite 
in the common effort for their solution, is receiving a train¬ 
ing in civics that is sound, fundamental and dynamic. 

Another very interesting and valuable type of problem 
to propose is to determine the significance of the names 
given to the city streets. This is peculiarly suitable for 
the classes in the grades. Beginning with the streets passing 
the schoolhouse, the process may be carried on to all the 
streets of the city, omitting, of course, those whose names 
have been arbitrarily assigned. For example, one of the 
school buildings in Franklin is located on Hurricane Street. 
Whence did this name come? In the discussion and in¬ 
vestigation that would follow, it would undoubtedly develop 
that it was called Hurricane Street because it was but the 
continuation of Hurricane Road. But why did the road 
bear that descriptive name ? There is a creek running 
through Franklin that also bears the name Hurricane. 
Could there be any relation between the name of the creek 
and the road? The pupils may easily be led to discover 
that the road and the creek run through the same territory, 
which would rouse the presumption that there was a con¬ 
nection between the two. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


143 


Some of the pupils may learn through the interviewing 
of some of the old settlers—an experience that is both inter¬ 
esting and valuable to both the old settler and the pupil— 
or, perhaps by consulting the county history, that when the 
early pioneers settled in that neighborhood, they found along 
the banks of the creek and the adjacent territory, unmis¬ 
takable signs of a hurricane having swept over that vicinity 
at some previous day. Thus the creek and the road, as 
well as the country neighborhood in that locality, have re¬ 
ceived the name of Hurricane. The idea of a hurricane 
would make a vital appeal to the imagination of youth, 
and would further stimulate curiosity in finding what other 
interesting stories might be concealed in the history of the 
community. 

Now, proceeding to the other streets in the vicinity, the 
other street on the corner is Madison Street, while the next 
two streets south are Jefferson and Monroe Streets, re¬ 
spectively. It would not require much time for the pupils 
to discover after whom the streets were named, and per¬ 
haps some interesting episodes in connection therewith, 
to attract additional attention. Here are introduced to the 
child’s consciousness, in a psychological manner, three of 
America’s great statesmen. There should follow a brief 
account of these men and their places in our country’s his¬ 
tory, in order that the pupil may understand why the city 
should seek to honor them by the naming of its streets. 
All this time the student is beginning to see, reflected in 
the story of his community, some of the history and romance 
of the nation. He is continuously following out new lines 
of interests that are as varied as they are vital. His increas¬ 
ing knowledge and experience will ultimately develop them 
into familiar paths of history. 

The most vivid single experience of my early school-days 
was obtained by such a method as I have described. I was 


144 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


in the third grade. The teacher set us to the task of work¬ 
ing out a map of Franklin. She did the drawing on the 
blackboard, extending streets and putting in the public 
buildings, as she was instructed by the class. I do not 
believe there was a member of the third grade that did not 
look forward to this period with genuine eagerness. Street 
names, peculiar angles in the highways, and similar details 
were so fixed in my mind that to this very day I am able 
to recall them. And all of this is in spite of the fact that 
we were working on a section of Franklin with which I 
have never since been familiar. This part of the city and 
its street names are far better fixed in my memory than 
are the portions of the city in which I was born and reared, 
as we never had time in our map making to get to the latter 
portion of the city. 

As I write these lines I can remember the zest with which 
we pupils vied with one another in getting information, 
finding unexpected little streets and alleys, and discovering 
mistakes in the development of the map. It was stimulating, 
instructive and pedagogical. This teacher had the problem 
of attention solved, from the beginning to the end of the 
work. The ingenuity, resourcefulness, and initiative of the 
pupils were all called into play. Significant information 
was driven home in a way never to be forgotten. Our 
interest in the community was being unconsciously de¬ 
veloped. To this teacher, the study of the community was 
a very effective means of developing the best intellectual, 
social and moral capacities of her pupils. She was equip¬ 
ping them with the capacity, the interest, and the point of 
view for the militant type of citizenship that our modern 
life demands. 

Among many other street names in Franklin that carry 
a fascinating story is Oyler Street. Many of the pupils by 
inquiry at home, or by other means, will discover that this 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


145 


street was named after Colonel Samuel P. Oyler, a veteran 
of the Civil War. There are many things in connection 
with the man’s public career that the class would find help¬ 
ful, interesting and inspiring. Perhaps the outstanding 
feature occurred, when, in the latter part of his life, he 
was elected mayor of Franklin. Among the issues that 
were involved in the election was the enforcement of the 
Sunday and liquor laws. Colonel Oyler enjoyed the repu¬ 
tation of being very liberal-minded on those subjects, and 
drew much of his support from men of like ideas. When 
he entered upon the performance of his duties, however, 
he astounded his friends and enemies alike by taking a 
courageous, high-minded and sincere attitude toward his 
oath of office. He had taken an oath to support the laws 
and constitution of his government when he entered the 
Union army, and that oath had been scrupulously and 
heroically observed during four long years of civil war. 

When he took his oath of office as mayor of the city, 
he did so with the same sincerity, devotion and determina¬ 
tion that his oath should be observed inviolable, that char¬ 
acterized his career as a soldier and an officer upon the field 
of battle. The day he assumed his office, he issued a procla¬ 
mation declaring his intention to enforce the law fairly and 
impartially, and with the best of his energy and ability, 
and he did as he declared. He was denounced, threatened 
and cajoled, but he never hesitated or deviated from his 
established course. 

Here certainly was a refreshing incident. Here was a 
man to whom patriotism was a duty of peace as well as of 
war; a man who had the courage of his convictions in 
politics as well as in battle; a man who was willing to accept 
a public office which most men of his career and reputation 
would have deemed beneath them, and make of that office 
an exalted duty to his city and to his nation. This story 


146 


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ought to have a thrill for the teacher and the pupils alike, 
as they develop its details and comprehend its significance. 
Doubtless there are other equally important matters hidden 
in the commonplace names of those surroundings, that would 
prove of equal interest and value, and that would challenge 
the curiosity and resourcefulness of the youthful mind. 

There is, near the city we are describing, a highway 
called the Three Notch Road. Back of this peculiar name 
lies a very interesting story, vouched for by local historians, 
but the accuracy of which I have never seen verified. The 
unraveling of this story is an ideal problem to set to a class. 
Perhaps the most obvious clue which the pupils will dis¬ 
cover is the idea of the blazed trail, and that this particular 
road was originally marked by a blazed trail of three 
notches. Few if any of the students will know anything 
personally of a blazed trail, but it is a subject that will 
intensely interest them, and here is an opportunity to intro¬ 
duce them to some of the customs and methods adopted by 
the pioneers. 

But the next question will arise of why have three notches 
when one would do as well to mark the trail. A little con¬ 
sideration and imagination will disclose the fact that trails 
occasionally cross, and travelers would become confused, 
if all trails were indicated by the same kind of notches 
along the way. But why was this three instead of two or 
four, or instead of bearing some other distinguishing mark? 
In answer to this question, it has been asserted that the 
trail was developed in pre-revolutionary times, and that the 
three notches were with reference to King George III of 
England. Here we find the name of a highway linking up 
with colonial history and in a very significant way, for 
additional questions at once suggest themselves. What 
people were traversing this territory at that time, and for 
what purpose? This will lead to the discovery of informa- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


147 


tion regarding the fur trade in those early days, and the 
traffic that resulted between the southwestern Indiana and 
southern Illinois districts, and the Toledo-Detroit region. 
The 1 hree Notch Trail is declared to have been one of the 
trade routes between the two sections, and it is from that 
original source that we have the Three Notch Road of to¬ 
day. 

Another similarly significant highway may perhaps be 
mentioned with profit. Running in a southwesterly direc¬ 
tion from Franklin is a thoroughfare known as the Maux- 
ferry Road. The problem of tracing this name is an ex¬ 
cellent one. An ingenious teacher would doubtless suggest, 
among other things, an analysis of the name itself, and it 
would logically follow that it had something to do with a 
ferry. The name of Maux would doubtless have some 
significance. Then would ensue an inquiry following up 
the leads contained in the name itself. By following the 
general direction of the road, by ascertaining when it was 
built, and what were the main cities or places of importance 
at that time and in that direction, considerable progress 
may be made. This line of investigation will lead one, 
among other places, to the Ohio River and to Corydon, the 
capital of the state in early times. Near Corydon is a 
town named Mauxport. The location of Mauck’s Ferry 
should easily follow. A statute passed by the Indiana legis¬ 
lature in 1823 provided for the re-location of “a part of the 
state road, leading from Mauck’s Ferry to Indianapolis.” 
This road ended at Franklin, because it there joined the 
state road from Madison to Indianapolis. 

It must not be forgotten that some of these problems, 
being rather difficult and elusive, may require a great deal 
of aid from the teacher. It can not all be left, in many 
cases, to the unaided initiative and ingenuity of the pupil. 
But the teacher’s aid should be by way of suggestive ques- 


.48 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


tions, which would direct student initiative rather than sup¬ 
plant it. Like any other method of teaching, it will not suc¬ 
ceed unless used with tact, judgment and discretion. 

Another group of problems that can be used in this con¬ 
nection is the working out of the history of the more im¬ 
portant institutions of the community, such as the different 
churches and schools. One of the most interesting hours 
of my youth, and one that I can now vividly recall, was 
spent in hearing a venerable deacon in one of Franklin’s 
churches, reading the history of the foundation and de¬ 
velopment of his church. He was one of those men who had 
not lost touch with humanity in his advancing years. In 
the story that he unfolded, he had not lost sight of the 
tragedy and the pathos, the heroism and the humor, and 
every one who listened was drawn nearer to the institution 
and the community it served, by the intimate and human 
account of a simple but moving narrative. He had the 
genius to see, in the apparently commonplace development 
of this institution, a deep human significance, and an account 
of the tireless toil and devotion of its early members, that 
was both stimulating and inspiring. Incidentally he gave to 
those of my generation an intimate insight into some of the 
customs and ideals of the pioneers. There are few churches 
in any community that can not produce an effective, inter¬ 
esting and stimulating story, if one will only get at the 
facts and have sufficient sympathy to sense the elements 
of human interest. 

In Johnson County, of which Franklin is the county-seat, 
there has been developed a system of consolidated schools 
that in many respects presents remarkable opportunities. 
Those who are teaching the history of that community will 
find there some splendid material. In the first place the 
problem should be set of accounting for the location of the 
school and then of its consolidation. What were the con- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


149 


ditions that prevailed before consolidation? What steps 
were taken to secure it? What about the struggle that was 
involved ? What was argued in opposition ? What was the 
nature of the arguments on either side ? Here is introduced 
a vital public question, the wise determination of which re- 
quired courage, foresight and vision. Here is a chance for 
the students, in developing the history of the community, 
to develop their own ideas and to begin habits of critical 
analysis and observation, as applied to the public problems 
of life. In such a study there is a sense of reality, and such 
a lack of pedantry, that its very realism gives it zest and 
interest. This splendid system of schools was not developed 
without hostile, though honest, opposition. The prograrq 
was not accomplished without labor, statesmanship and pa- 
tience. And what better place can there be for the pupil 
to learn that the every-day problems of the community de^ 
mand these heroic and basic qualities ? 

If the student can be brought to realize the importance of 
the task that has been accomplished; if he can come to apr 
preciate and comprehend the local statesmanship that was 
involved, if he can learn to visualize the significance of the 
achievement and its results, he will have a new and en¬ 
riched sense of the dignity, importance and opportunities of 
community leadership. When it is understood that much 
of this splendid record of accomplishment was due to the 
perseverance, vision and determination of the county school 
superintendent, these children will view with a clearer vision 
and a more adequate comprehension the real possibilities 
of this vitally important office, which have been too fre¬ 
quently ignored. 

The story of this community would not be complete with¬ 
out unraveling the story of its dominant institution, Frank¬ 
lin College of Indiana. Here, again, the problem approach 
may be very effectively employed. The college is located on 


150 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


a little knoll on the east side of the city. One of the first 
problems should be why was the college located in Franklin? 
Why was it not built in some other city? Were there any 
peculiar reasons why Franklin, at that time, should be 
chosen as the site ? Another set of questions would have to 
do with who founded the college. What interests con¬ 
tributed the money? What was their purpose and motive? 
What have been the chief factors in its development? These 
questions will lead into many interesting and informing 
discussions. They will display a missionary and altruistic 
spirit on the part of its founders, that children so fre¬ 
quently fail to identify with public institutions. In the 
vicissitudes of its early struggle for existence, there are 
stories of conflict, heroism and self-sacrifice, that will drive 
home vital lessons that can not be ignored. Normal, gen¬ 
erous and sympathetic youth will respond nobly to such a 
story. They will find in it an opportunity for their al¬ 
truistic and social instincts and emotions to seek expression. 
Thrilled with the spirit of exaltation that follows, they 
will learn the joy of service and the happiness of sacrifice. 

In every community, large and small, there is so much of 
the ennobling, the heroic, and the altruistic side of human 
effort stored away in the untold secrets of its life, that the 
opportunities are appalling and bewildering. As one tries 
to appraise the results that might follow, were these oppor¬ 
tunities to be exploited in an effective way, one is dazzled 
by the possibilities one beholds. If these ideals, hopes and 
aspirations that one finds articulate in the story of every 
neighborhood, could be impressed into the impressionable 
consciousness of youth, what it would accomplish in the de¬ 
velopment of virile dynamic citizenship, it is almost impos¬ 
sible to estimate. 

It must not be supposed that the ideas I am here seeking 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


151 


to develop are for the sole and exclusive use of the teacher 
of local history or civics. It is to be hoped that teachers of 
English will find here suggestions for themes and composR 
tions that will prove helpful and interesting. Certainly the 
topics here suggested would afford adequate opportunity 
for the student’s self-expression and imagination. There 
are such elements of humor, tragedy, devotion and heroism 
in every neighborhood, to those who have the imaginative 
genius to find them, that the pupil will not lack for a suffi¬ 
ciently varied group of interests, to enable him to give ex¬ 
pression to the diverse elements of his nature. Moreover, he 
is seeing these things more nearly at first hand, through his 
own observation and experience, and he is, therefore, much 
more likely to see the elements of tragedy and heroism as 
they really are, rather than as pictured by his favorite 
writer. When his contact with the forces of life is thus 
gained directly, there will be a sense of reality to it all, that 
will be most wholesome and inspiring. 

A distinguished school superintendent once told me of 
visiting the class in current events. He was a great believer 
in such work when properly handled, and always had at 
least two classes in operation, one in the high school, and 
the other in the two upper grades. Invariably, he said, 
upon visiting those classes, he found them discussing for¬ 
eign events and matters of national interest at Washington. 
There seemed an unwritten rule against discussing events 
nearer home. State matters were rarely dealt with, and lo¬ 
cal matters were always ignored. And yet there are few 
communities that do not have their own local developments 
and matters of current interest. One ingenious teacher, 
working in a small town where there was a very live cham¬ 
ber of commerce, always included the*important proceedings 
of that body in his course in current events. The result was 


152 


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every student was thinking and studying in terms of the 
local community, and was acquiring the invaluable habit of 
making its problems his own. 

Teachers in charge of debating and similar work, may fre¬ 
quently find rare opportunities presented by the problems 
existing at their very doors. It goes without saying that it 
is such problems that have the fullest sense of reality to the 
student, and that he is most competent to discuss. A prin¬ 
cipal once related an incident that is significant here. His 
teacher of public speaking and argumentation was accus¬ 
tomed to assign the old trite problems for debate. He had 
not been succeeding, and the principal thought this to be 
an important cause of his failure. He suggested, therefore, 
that for their next debate they argue the question of 
whether the main street of the city should be paved. The 
teacher did not like the subject. He had no prepared ar¬ 
guments or selected bibliography “on tap.” None of the 
debaters’ guides or handbooks had outlined arguments or 
collected material on such a provincial question. Even the 
teacher’s note-book was found unproductive on this vexing 
problem. Obviously, if such a question was to be debated, 
some one had to do some thinking, and display some re¬ 
sourcefulness, in the building of arguments and the gather¬ 
ing of material. The teacher did not understand he had 
been employed for that. He was hired to teach debating. 

Finally, the principal had his way, the subject was an¬ 
nounced, and the preparation begun. It was decided, in 
view of the character of the question, to invite the city coun¬ 
cil to be present. This gave the students a new sense of the 
dignity and importance of the functions they were expected 
to perform. The students soon became enamored with their 
task, because it was real and practical. Their search for 
evidence brought them in contact with prominent members 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


153 


of the community, and the city administration. They found 
these men interested and often holding contrary opinions. 
They found a stimulus in their task they had never found 
before, because it connected them up with life. 

In their quest for evidence, the debaters began to con¬ 
sider the example of neighboring cities. They investigated 
different types of paving, expenses of upkeep and repair, 
and the probable wearing quality of each. They discussed 
and argued it at home, with their friends, and every place 
they went, until most of the people in the little city were 
aware that the question was pending. The debate was a 
big success. They had the largest number of visitors that 
day in the history of the school. The question became a 
vital one for the community. A little more than a year 
later the street was paved. 

The pupils who participated in that debate had an experi¬ 
ence they never could forget. They learned something of 
the thrill that comes to those who engage in honest conflict 
over public issues. They viewed their relations to the com¬ 
munity and its problems as something more vital and impor¬ 
tant than they had thought. Their training for practical, 
civic accomplishment, had, in fact, begun. 

A departmental teacher of history in the seventh and 
eighth grades, in a little city of some three thousand inhab¬ 
itants, tried this theory in teaching local history. She pro¬ 
posed to the class that they write a history of the county. 
The proposal met with spontaneous enthusiasm. In the 
meanwhile, the teacher had carefully prepared an outline 
for the class to use. The first problem she set to the class 
was the formulation of a plan or outline for their work. 
With the true artist’s skill, she directed their energies and 
attention until they had developed a plan and outline that 
harmonized with her own. They would take up a topic at 


154 


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a time, different aspects of the topics being referred to two 
or three students together, although all were welcomed and 
encouraged to produce all they could. 

After thrashing a matter over until they had all the evi¬ 
dence that was available to the students, the teacher 
sought to formulate a statement of the facts, as it had been 
established by their efforts. In the formulation of these 
statements, the students took the most critical care to see 
that no mistakes occurred, and that nothing was omitted. 
When the statement was so worded as to be acceptable to 
the class, then the teacher dictated it to the pupils, who 
copied it in their note-books. Thus they wrote the history 
of their own county. It was my privilege to inspect these 
note-books, and the results achieved were marvelous. The 
resourcefulness, the ingenuity, the historic spirit, and the 
interest in the community that it developed, were remark¬ 
able. These boys and girls walked several miles into the 
country to interview old settlers who might have some in¬ 
formation that would be valuable. They hunted up the 
records of some of the old church organizations in order to 
trace the history of the local institutions. They sought out 
files of old newspapers, letters of old residents, and every¬ 
thing that curious students, or a resourceful teacher, could 
suggest. 

I talked with the superintendent about the results 
achieved, and found him entirely enthusiastic over the work 
done. He reported that the influence of that one class for 
that one year had done more to awaken the interest of the 
community in its history and development, than all other 
forces combined. The children in questioning their parents, 
and in interviewing others, had imparted something of their 
enthusiasm for the history of the community. The superin¬ 
tendent informed me that he had been compelled to ask the 
teacher to go a little slow, as other teachers were complain- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


155 


ing that they were unable to get their students to work, as 
they were too absorbed with their history class. 

It must not be supposed that the teacher’s part in this 
method of approach is unimportant. It takes more re¬ 
sourcefulness and tact than the old-fashioned, pedantic 
methods required, but it avoids the deadly monotony that 
seemed inherent in the older system. The teacher whose 
work I have just described told me she thought she never 
did so much work as she did the first time the method was 
employed. It was her careful thought and preparation, 
however, that gave her such conspicuous success, and after 
the matter had been once carefully arranged and success¬ 
fully carried out, it became much easier and increasingly in¬ 
teresting and delightful. 

The story of the community, if developed according to the 
suggestion here made, becomes an important and effective 
means of developing the evolutionary point of view. No 
child can follow this method without coming to the resist¬ 
less conclusion that the principle of cause and effect op¬ 
erates as resistlessly through our social and political life as 
it does in the realm of science. He can not escape the con¬ 
clusion that the community, like all social life, is a contin¬ 
uous process of development. He finds that advancement 
comes by growth. His whole view-point is adjusted to the 
wholesome idea that progress is by evolution, not revolution. 

Nor is this all. There comes also the habit of critical an¬ 
alysis and inquiry. Curiosity is aroused as never before, 
as he finds that his normal craving for romance and the 
heroic can be satisfied by studying the life about him. Crit¬ 
ical analysis, motivated by the instinct of curiosity, and di¬ 
rected at the life and institutions of the community, has 
opened up new worlds of experience in which his imagina¬ 
tion is free to roam. 

Again, as the vital life of the community is bared to him, 


156 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


with all its realities of struggle, sacrifice and tragedy, there 
wells up in the ardent spirit of youth, a deep sense of obli¬ 
gation and devotion to those whose courage and heroism 
have won his youthful heart. The spirit of emulation 
quickly responds, and the pupil pictures himself as battling 
for the welfare and progress of the community. Thus we 
are building a sentiment of constructive patriotism, both 
virile and effective. In the study of the locality, there is 
constant opportunity for the appeal to instinctive and emo¬ 
tional life. The appeal, being based upon conditions with 
which the child is intimate, does not lose in its force, but 
gains tremendously in its practical value. This patriotic 
sentiment need not wait until the peace of the country is 
imperiled before it begins to function. It functions with 
each new public problem that confronts the developing intel¬ 
ligence of youth. 

The patriotic sentiment is thus strengthened, and its at¬ 
tention directed to the practical problems of the community, 
by the intimate knowledge which the pupil secures. One 
may view with great equanimity suffering, hardship and in¬ 
justice, when visited upon strangers not within our sight. 
One may likewise calmly behold the government of his com¬ 
munity becoming demoralized, rotten and ineffective, if his 
knowledge of the community is meager, his attachment 
slight, and his understanding of its real human significance 
very scant. But if he knows the community intimately, if 
he has felt a deep human interest in his history and strug¬ 
gle, if there has developed that sense of affectionate regard 
that comes with an intimate knowledge of group life and 
struggle, if he has learned to see beneath the surface and to 
read the deeply human significance of rotten and inefficient 
government, then he will respond. He will find here an am¬ 
ple challenge to his patriotism, his manhood and his self- 
respect. The parental instinct, accelerated by feelings of 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


157 


outraged indignation, and all the emotional power of the 
patriotic and self-regarding sentiments, will be summoned 
to the struggle. 

Such a citizen will not be awed by the bluff, the deter¬ 
mination and the desperate tactics of the determined, or¬ 
ganized minority. He will not accept plausible accounts of 
the weird and resistless power of invisible governments that 
do not exist. He will neither seek nor accept the spiritual 
and moral alibis proffered by the smug, the complacent and 
the self-satisfied. He will not retreat in the face of his 
foe, though the hour be late, the conditions harsh, and the 
fight prolonged. He would no more desert his cause in the 
hour of peril than would our heroic soldiers have fled from 
the advance of their Prussian foes. 

I do not mean to imply that a single course in community 
history is going to regenerate completely our citizenship. I 
make no such absurdly pretentious claim. I do argue, how¬ 
ever, that if the teachers of our public schools can devote 
themselves heart and soul to the social view-point, if they 
can make the various courses of the curriculum each yield 
its quota to the intellectual and moral training of the boy 
and girl, if they will lose no reasonable opportunity to in¬ 
culcate in youthful consciousness a virile and passionate 
sentiment of patriotic fervor, if they will continually nour¬ 
ish, develop and direct the rich instinctive and emotional life 
of youth to respond to the call of human need, there will be 
developed in every community a few valiant leaders who will 
dare and do in defense of the community they have learned 
to love. And where there are leaders in such a cause, they 
will always find support. It is in the training of this leader¬ 
ship that the hope of our democracy must rest. 

It should be remembered that if every community could 
produce but one such leader in each decade, the future of 
democracy might rest secure. In the political battle de- 


158 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


scribed at the opening of the chapter, one strong, virile and 
courageous leader could have organized his forces, held his 
men in line and secured the triumph of a righteous cause. 
To find, develop and train these leaders, and to lay the basis 
of a public opinion that will respond to their clarion call, is 
the task we must essay. 

A most important factor in the achievement of this end, is 
the available material, in the study of which the right quali¬ 
ties of heart and head may be developed. It has been the 
purpose of this chapter to demonstrate that in the story of 
the community are concealed vast treasures of suitable ma¬ 
terial. The particular community discussed was in no way 
unusual. Opportunities of a similar nature exist at the very 
threshold of almost every teacher in the land, and yet how 
often has it happened that local history and civics have failed 
to yield results ? How many of these opportunities are be¬ 
ing seized by the other teachers in the performance of their 
various tasks? What we need is a human outlook on the 
problems of the school, a vision of its fullest and richest 
possibilities, and an imagination and resourcefulness in con¬ 
necting up its activities with the vivid realities of life. We 
fail to see the splendid possibilities before our very eyes. 

In his famous lecture entitled Acres of Diamonds, Rus¬ 
sell H. Conwell tells of an ancient Persian who, desirous of 
great wealth, decided to seek his fortune in a search for 
diamonds. He sold his farm, left his family in charge of a 
neighbor, and departed on a long but fruitless quest. At 
last he became discouraged. His money was gone. He had 
nothing left but poverty and wretchedness. Goaded by des¬ 
peration, he sought relief in self-destruction, and was heard 
of no more. While this tragedy was taking place, a dia¬ 
mond was accidentally discovered in the sands of the farm 
that the old Persian had abandoned. The owner, in great 
excitement, rushed out into the garden to dig the sands, and 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


159 


discovered many and more valuable gems than the first one 
he had found. Thus it happened, that had the old Persian 
“remained at home, and dug in his own cellar, or underneath 
his own wheat field, instead of wretchedness, starvation, 
poverty and death, in a strange land, he would have had 
Acres of Diamonds” 

The teacher who can glimpse the real significance of his 
task, who can keep in touch and sympathy with the vital in¬ 
cidents of current life, who can come to the study of his 
own community with both sympathy and ingenuity, such a 
teacher will not need to go to alien peoples or foreign lands 
to find materials for his task. In the very vicinity where he 
works, in the daily environment of his life, and in the 
commonplaces of his surroundings, he will find the opportu¬ 
nities that he seeks. For the teacher who is alert, every 
community has its “acres of diamonds” at his very door. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What elements compose the determined organized minority of 
your community? 

2. If the patriotic, intelligent citizens of your community were to 
organize effectively to work for the good of the community, what 
concrete result might conceivably be accomplished ? 

3. Why do they not organize ? 

4. What practical difficulties would a leader encounter if he at¬ 
tempted to perfect such an organization and carry out such a pro¬ 
gram? 

5. What can the schools do in regard to these difficulties? Be 
specific and concrete. 

6. What practical difficulties would a teacher meet in teaching the 
history of the community in the manner suggested in the text? How 
could these be met? 

7. Could local questions be currently considered and studied, with¬ 
out involving the school and teacher in local politics? How? Be 
very concrete here. 

8. Mention five things in the history of your community that 


160 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


could be profitably studied by the problem method and indicate spe¬ 
cifically how you would plan the work. 

9. In what ways does the history of your community tie up with 
the history of the state and nation? How far should this connection 
be traced in teaching local history? 

10. Suggest five topics for debate that are potentially live, local 
issues in your community. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Bulletin of Information 
No. 37 , Proceedings 1907 . “Report of an Experiment in the 
Kellogg Public Library at Green Bay, Wis.” 

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Bulletin of Information 
No. 54 , Proceedings June, 1910 . “Suggestions for Organiza¬ 
tion and Work of Local Historical Societies in Wisconsin.” 
Hart, Joseph K. (edited by), Educational Resources of Villages and 
Rural Communities (Macmillan Company, New York, 1913). 
Has a splendid group of suggestive questions at the end of each 
chapter. 


I 


CHAPTER VII 


RURAL LIFE AND GOVERNMENT 

WO or three decades ago, Clay County, Kentucky, 



was made notorious by the Baker-Howard feud. The 


mountain whites, as they were called, seemed unable to re¬ 
sist the primitive call for vengeance. Descendants of the 
purest Anglo-Saxon stock of which our nation boasts, they 
sacrificed all other interest in devotion to their bloody task. 
The feud drained the community of its finest men. It 
sapped their productive energies. It left widows and or¬ 
phans, poverty and desolation, in its wake. It paralyzed the 
social and moral life of the community. It imposed an ef¬ 
fective barrier to the beneficent influences of civilization, 
and condemned the children to lives of ignorance and crime. 

Out of the very tragedy and suffering of the community 
came the leadership that was to save it. James Burns was 
caught in the meshes of the Baker-Howard feud. He had 
fought in many of its battles. In one of them he was 
wounded and left for dead. Upon recovering consciousness 
he painfully made his way to a distant part of the moun¬ 
tains where he could have rest and allow his wounds to heal. 
In the .days of meditation that followed, the futility, the 
tragedy and the wickedness of the struggle in which the 
community was absorbed, came home to him"with vividness 
and force. I 

He left the mountains and sought employment where he 
<£puld. For a time he was a roustabout on a boat on the 
Udiio River. Finally he found his way into West Virginia 
where he had relatives and where he became settled for a 
time. While here, he united with a church and definitely 


161 


162 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


dedicated his life to the Christian ministry. Feeling the 
need of education, he spent a few months attending classes 
in a university. But he could not resist the call of the 
mountains. He returned to Clay County to teach and 
preach to the folks among his native hills. He became con¬ 
vinced that Christianity and education were the only forces 
that could save his neighbors from the evils of moonshine 
and the destruction of the feud. Despite the discouraging 
words of his friends, he determined to build a school in the 
very center of his native county. 

He began by calling together twelve old men from the 
opposing clans. He reasoned that the older men were less 
belligerent, and more inclined to accept an appeal for a 
regime that would be better and more peaceful. He won 
them over to his cause, and they signed their names as trus¬ 
tees to an application for a charter for Oneida Institute. 
He then faced the task of persuading the younger men to 
support the work. He summoned them to a meeting in an 
old mill. They came, about twenty-five from either side, 
heavily armed. This was the hour for which he had long 
prepared. With native eloquence and an obvious, sin¬ 
cerity he pleaded for his cause. He described, from his own 
intimate knowledge, the evils of the life they led. He por¬ 
trayed their own dislike and disapproval of the system that 
they endured. He declared that they hated the life they 
lived, that their sons were being reared for slaughter, and 
that the only way to end the bloody business was to stop it 
then and there, and “to let Christian education take the 
place of rifle practise, and progress supplant destruction.” 

Unable to resist the force of his logic and personality, 
they agreed to a temporary cessation of hostilities. He had 
won their consent but not their cooperation. They would 
wait to see what he could do. 

In the words of Doctor James M. Stifler: 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


163 


“He had his vision, his faith in God, and about twenty 
cents with which to start a school in the heart of the moun¬ 
tains; but he did it. He begged a bit of land on an ideal 
site on condition that he put a schoolhouse on it. He took 
an old crowbar and, with the use of the blacksmith’s forge, 
he made a set of stonecutter’s tools. With his own hands 
he quarried out the rock, and all alone one morning, with 
God for his audience, he laid the corner-stone. His prayer 
of dedication was interrupted by the crack of a young 
feudist’s Winchester, fired at random as a taunt. 

“Alone he wrought with that masonry. Shamed by his 
self-sacrifice, a near-by farmer gave him fifty dollars in 
money, a tremendous sum. Others brought rough lumber 
and laid it down near his growing foundation walls. With 
his own hands he dressed those hard oak timbers and 
boards. And so he got his material for the building. The 
fifty dollars paid for the hardware and glass. Many a 
night, too tired to walk the four miles to his home, he lay 
down on the shavings and slept, and many a day, when no 
one offered him food, he went out and hunted pawpaws and 
berries to keep himself alive. Fired by his vision, and the 
actual appearance of his building, others came and began to 
help him with a day’s work, and so the building was 
erected.” 

The school opened in 1899 with one hundred students 
and three teachers, including Mr. Burns. The latter had 
to earn a living for a large family while doing his teaching, 
which covered subjects entirely new to him. It was with 
the greatest difficulty that he kept ahead of the class. But 
the work grew. The school flourished. His personality 
won the hearts of the people. His sincerity and common 
sense commanded their respect and confidence. The fight 
was won. 

In a brief time the attendance grew to five hundred stu¬ 
dents. The school property was soon valued at one hundred 
thousand dollars. In Clay County and the four adjoining 
counties, seventy-five per cent, of the teachers of the dis- 


164 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


trict schools received their training at Oneida. With the 
opening of the school the old feud spirit steadily declined. 
Since then there has not been a serious outbreak. There 
has developed a new generation of boys and girls that hate 
bloodshed and destruction. The evils of moonshine have 
been more stubborn in their resistance, but they have “con¬ 
stantly declined in popularity and profusion.” This com¬ 
munity, in the midst of the Cumberland Mountains, forty 
miles from a railroad, has been regenerated by the leader¬ 
ship of a single man. The despair of our civilization but 
a few years before, this county has become the hope of the 
mountain region. This illustration stands out as the great 
example of what can be accomplished in the most hopeless 
environment, by a great teacher who has vision, faith, 
courage, personality and common sense. The knowledge of 
this triumphant experience in the Cumberland Mountains 
should be a continuing inspiration to those in quest of op¬ 
portunities to serve. To those who seek to instill the spirit 
of service into others, it should be an example of resistless 
power. 

Before we began the study of rural life and government, 
I wanted the reader to have his emotions aroused and his 
imagination fired by the dramatic story of Clay County’s 
educational pioneer. Here was a man who found his 
“acres of diamonds” in the environment of his daily life. 
He saw the rich opportunities of his humble community. 
In the mountains of Kentucky he found a challenge to his 
manhood and patriotism. It was in the meeting of this chal¬ 
lenge that he sprang to immortal fame. 

This should illustrate in an effective way the opportu¬ 
nities afforded by life and government of a rural community. 
No one can teach rural local government in such a way as 
to develop leadership, stimulate effort, and create a dynamic, 
constructive patriotism, who ignores the life of the com- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


165 


munity. It is only when government is expressed in terms 
of life that it becomes interesting and real. It is only when 
its success or failure becomes written into the lives of the 
people that it is either significant or important. It is only 
in so far as government plays a role in the service of the 
group that it is worth our while. Rural life must, therefore, 
be intimately associated with rural government, if we are to 
teach it effectively, interestingly or accurately. 

But instead of attacking the problem of rural government 
and life, we have too frequently ignored it. We have been 
impressed with the rapid growth of gigantic cities. Our 
attention is gripped by the dramatic setting of the conflict 
between capital and labor. Our interest is engrossed in the 
impelling problem of monopolies and trusts. These varied 
interests, because of the spectacular setting they enjoy, have 
too easily blinded the popular eye to the problem of the rural 
life and government. While interested in the destiny of the 
great cities of the country, we forget that over half of our 
people live in rural communities. While absorbed in the 
vexing problems of labor, we neglect the fact that one-third 
of the workers of the country draw their living from the 
soil. While astounded and perhaps alarmed at the tre¬ 
mendous growth and centralization of industry, we fail to 
realize that the capital invested in farming, and protected 
by rural government, almost equals the total amount of 
wealth invested in manufacturing and transportation. 

The whole problem of the farm, with all its fundamental 
questions, comes within the purview of rural life and govern¬ 
ment. Its political and economic importance is convincingly 
set forth by President Butterfield of Massachusetts Agri¬ 
cultural College. “We are aware that agriculture does not 
hold the same relative rank among our industries that it did 
in former years, and that our city population has increased 
far more rapidly than has our rural population. We do not 


166 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


ignore the fact that urban industries are developing more 
rapidly than is agriculture, nor deny the seriousness of 
the actual depletion of rural population, and even of com¬ 
munity decadence, in some portions of the Union. But these 
facts merely add to the importance of the farm question. 
And it should not be forgotten that there has been a large 
and constant growth both of our agricultural wealth and of 
our rural population. During the last half-century there 
was a gain of five hundred per cent, in the value of farm 
property, while the non-urban population increased two hun¬ 
dred and fifty per cent. Agriculture has been one of the 
chief elements of America’s industrial greatness, it is still 
our dominant economic interest, and it will long remain at 
least a leading industry. The people of the farm have fur¬ 
nished a sturdy citizenship and have been the primary source 
of much of our best leadership in political, business and pro¬ 
fessional life. For an indefinite future, a large proportion 
of the American people will continue to live in a rural en¬ 
vironment.” 

With these facts in mind the teacher is able to show the 
pupil the tremendous importance of this phase of his study. 
Moreover, it is hoped that in meditating along the lines 
of thought here suggested, the teacher will grasp the fuller 
significance of the rural life problem to the welfare and 
future of the nation. In giving emphasis to the fundamental 
significance of the agricultural problem, President Butter¬ 
field pertinently inquires if the farm problem is merely one 
of technique, plus business skill, plus certain economic 
principles. 

"Is it not perfectly possible that agriculture as an industry 
may remain in a fairly satisfactory condition, and yet the 
farming class fail to maintain its status in the general social 
order ?. Is it not, for instance, quite within the bounds of 
probability to imagine a good degree of economic strength 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


167 


in the agricultural industry, existing side by side with either 
a peasant regime or a landlord-and-tenant system? Yet 
would we expect from either system the same social fruitage 
that has been harvested from our American yeomanry? 

“We conclude, then, that the farm problem consists in 
maintaining upon our farms a class of people who have suc¬ 
ceeded in procuring for themselves the highest possible class 
status, not only in the industrial, but in the political and the 
social order—a relative status, moreover, that is measured 
by the demands of American ideals.” 

This is not the place to discuss in detail the rural life 
problem, but with the attention it is now receiving by emi¬ 
nent leaders and scholars, it needs no words from me to 
emphasize its importance. It is one of the problems democ¬ 
racy must solve. It is one of the questions that the citizens 
of the future must be prepared to meet. Any civic training 
that does not recognize this fact and does not correlate this 
basic problem with the other problems of our democracy, 
is inadequate, if not misleading. The political importance 
of sound rural life is persuasively stated by Professor Gil¬ 
lette. 

“The farmer’s advance does not mean others’ injury, but 
his progress in all good things will contribute to the general 
upbuilding. His advance means the promotion of the com¬ 
mon good. His better education means the intellectual en¬ 
richment of all other classes. His improvement in leader¬ 
ship so that he is competent to take care of his interests in 
county, state and nation will bring about a revolution in 
political life which will offset the undue influence of special 
privilege in government. If the cities are corrupt and hold 
the balance of power for evil, as some would contend, an 
enlightened and strengthened agricultural vote would act 
as a countervailing influence.” 

Ex-President Roosevelt emphasized the national interest 
in rural life in the following passage: 


168 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


“Our civilization rests at bottom on the wholesomeness, 
the attractiveness, and the completeness, as well as the pros¬ 
perity, of life in the country. . . . Upon the development 
of country life rests ultimately our ability, by methods of 
farming-requiring the highest intelligence, to continue to feed 
and clothe the hungry nations; to supply the city with fresh 
blood, clean bodies, and clear brains that can endure the 
terrific strain of modern life; we need the development of 
men in the open country, who will be in the future, as in the 
past, the stay and strength of the nation in time of war, 
and its guiding and controlling spirit in time of peace.” 

It is with problems of such basic importance that rural 
government is vitally concerned. In introducing the topic, 
however, let us not forget the functional approach. Let us 
first understand the family and its fundamental importance. 
Let us organize the experience that the child has gained in 
the home, into terms of law, authority, government and 
functions. Let us fashion out of the materials of his daily 
life, the concepts that will become his working tools in the 
study of his government. In the chapter on the functional 
approach, we have seen how local government came into 
existence because of needs which individuals and families 
working independently, could not secure. An enumeration 
of the functions of rural government, an emphasis upon their 
importance to the community, and a discussion of why they 
could only be performed through cooperative effort, would 
be a very fitting introduction. It must be remembered, how¬ 
ever, that to do this too hastily or briefly would defeat the 
very end we have in view. The idea should not be de¬ 
veloped more rapidly than it can be fully comprehended. 
Having once been fully comprehended, it should be repeated 
time and time again, until this method becomes a habit of 
thought, and the functional approach an established point 
of view. The institutions, rules and regulations of the rural 
government, must not appear to the student in any other 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


169 


light than as obviously necessary instruments for the achiev- 
ment of the common purposes of the group. When this 
necessary relation between government and functions is 
definitely established, then we are ready to begin to describe 
and analyze the framework of government itself. 

In beginning this phase of the study we should begin 
with the question “Why?” We have already met the problem 
of why rural government of some kind is necessary. The 
particular departments of government will be found to have 
come to meet some of the particular needs. But this will 
not explain the different methods adopted in different sec¬ 
tions of the country to meet the local needs. For instance, 
we find in New England that the basic unit of rural govern¬ 
ment is the town, while in, the South we find it to be the 
county. Why should there be this totally different em¬ 
phasis? In a previous chapter we found that those two 
types of government were the definite result of the differ¬ 
ence in the economic, social and topographical conditions of 
the two sections of the country. 

But in other sections of the land we have still different 
types of rural government which seem to be mixtures of the 
two types just suggested. Whence came these types ? What 
conditions or influences created them ? These are problems 
that should be solved. It should not take long to discover 
that there were some colonies where the conditions were 
not the same as those of New England and yet different 
from those in the South, as Pennsylvania, for example. In 
such a colony one might expect to find neither the county 
nor the town fully developed, but a compromise of the two, 
which is just what one finds. 

There are two forms of the mixed type of rural govern¬ 
ment which are generally called the “county-precinct” and 
the “township-county” types respectively. In the first, the 
emphasis is on the county and it more nearly resembles the 


170 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


4 


southern type. In the latter the emphasis is on the town and 
is more similar to the towns of New England. Some states 
have one form, some states have the other, while several 
states, such as Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and 
North Dakota have both systems in different sections. Here 
are some other very interesting problems. Why do some 
states have one kind and other states another? Why do 
some states have both? What is the explanation of this 
diversity? Moreover, history shows us that in some states 
there has first been established the “county-precinct” type 
only to be later changed to the “township-county” type, 
but there have been very few changes, if any, the other way. 
What is the explanation here ? 

The township-county type was first found in Pennsyl¬ 
vania where it was doubtless due to a compromise between 
the opposite types to be found in the colonies to the north 
and south of her. It was largely through the influence of 
Pennsylvania that this type was introduced in the North¬ 
west Territory. But what has been the determining influ¬ 
ences in many of the later states ? This problem will not be 
difficult to solve, and doubtless some pupil will guess its 
solution in the beginning. In states where the people from 
New England dominate, the emphasis will be on the town. 
Where, however, the state is settled largely by people from 
the South, the emphasis is the opposite and the county- 
precinct plan is found. 

But how about the states where both systems are found 
as in Illinois? There the problem is the same. It was a 
compromise between the different views of people coming 
from different sections of the East. Interest in the problem 
is still further increased by the fact that originally there 
was only one type, and that the county-precinct type, while 
to-day the great overwhelming majority have the township- 
county form. A little thought and investigation will show 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


171 


that the first constitution of the state provided for the 
county-precinct type. But why was this the case ? This will 
lead to an inquiry as to the early settlers of Illinois which 
would show that they came largely from the South. The 
later settlers, however, came largely from the New England 
and Middle States, and therefore favored the other type. 
These people had so increased in numbers that when the 
constitution of 1848 was adopted, they secured a provision 
giving to each county the right to adopt the township basis 
of organization if it so desired. 

The county or county-precinct plan being simpler, more 
symmetrical, more easily managed, was generally considered 
better adapted to thinly settled districts. Especially was this 
true in states originally settled from the South. But when 
population increased, more interest in town government be¬ 
gan to develop and those from the New England states 
began to urge some form of township-county government 
Thus we find, in tracing back the historical origin of our 
rural government, an interesting story which connects us up 
definitely with the early days and life of the Republic. We 
also find, -what is equally important, that some of our gov¬ 
ernmental forms to-day are merely historic survivals that 
have no special reference to the particular functions they 
are intended to perform. Certainly the realization of this 
important fact is a part of the training for effective citizen¬ 
ship. 

By this method of treatment another valuable by-product 
is achieved. The student is freed from the dogmatic con¬ 
viction, too frequently preached, that the town government 
of New England was the result of the moral and political 
superiority of the Puritan. There still clings to my boy¬ 
hood knowledge of history, the idea that the town meeting 
was a result of the virgin love of liberty, while the county 
government of the South was the product of those who 


172 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


worshiped aristocracy rather than democracy. During my 
days in the public schools these two forms of government 
were used as additional evidence, if any might be needed, 
of the inherent moral perversity of the South and the 
spiritual superiority of the North. 

Whatever may be said of the relative moral qualities of 
the two sections, as evidenced by the growth of human 
slavery in the section where it yielded the greatest profits, 
certainly nothing is to be gained, and much may be lost, 
by such mischievous efforts to misread history, and to create 
hatred and suspicion over incidents that in nowise merit 
them. History and institutions should be interpreted in 
the light of truth and life, and not in the service of an ul¬ 
terior cause, however worthy it may have been. That the 
people of the South adopted a county form of government, 
has no other significance than that they were sufficiently 
hard-headed and practical to build the kind of government 
that best met their peculiar needs. 

Another unfortunate result of the “holier than thou” 
interpretation of the New England town meeting is the 
popular conception that it has helped to create in favor of 
a blind naive insistence upon the principle of home rule as a 
panacea for public ills, and as the natural and inalienable 
right of every American community. The idea of home 
rule, when properly understood and limited, may be a very 
valuable concept to American statesmanship. But when 
urged with stubborn insistence against every kind of state 
administrative control over the technical aspects of local 
problems, it becomes, not an instrument, but an obstacle of 
progress. 

I can well remember when as a youth in the public school, 
I had to forego the use of slates and substitute therefor 
pencil and tablet. The State Board of Health had de¬ 
termined that certain primitive methods of cleansing the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


173 


slates, in which children seemed determined to indulge, 
were insanitary and the board therefore ordered the aboli¬ 
tion of slates from the public schools. I can remember 
some of the local opposition that it aroused. What right 
had the State Board of Health to interfere with the rights 
of the community? The fact that it saved life and pre¬ 
vented disease was nothing, compared with the outrageous 
violation of fundamental right. “Kill our children, but 
permit us home rule,” seemed to be the unconscious logic of 
their cry. 

The same point was well illustrated by a more recent inci¬ 
dent. A state had created a state commission to regulate 
the public utilities of the commonwealth. In the course of 
time it had occasion to lower the rates charged by many 
local utilities. It had a corps of engineers, accountants 
and economists, men who were expert in these problems, 
who could make an examination, determine the facts and 
make a just and fair decision. No single city could afford 
to develop such effective machinery for the solution of its 
problems. It meant, therefore, that the community must 
depend upon the state machinery, or ignore the problem, 
or try to solve it without sufficient expert advice, in which 
case justice and wisdom would be quite difficult, if not im¬ 
possible, to obtain. This seemed the best solution that was 
at hand. 

But it encountered opposition. A “home rule” league 
was organized to fight this “unwarranted invasion of Amer¬ 
ican rights.” I listened to one of its founders give an elo¬ 
quent address in its behalf. Not once did he argue that the 
locality could provide better machinery for the solution of 
the problem. Not once did he argue that the new system 
was incompetent or inefficient. Not once did he argue that 
it would not do justice to all concerned. His one and only 
plea was that it violated the principle of local autonomy. 


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He painted in glowing terms the New England town meeting 
as the birthplace of American liberty. He eulogized the 
ideal of home rule as the very flower of American democ¬ 
racy, consecrated by the blood of heroes. It was this ideal 
for which the fathers fought and died upon the frozen hills 
of Valley Forge. To have this ideal blighted by the humili¬ 
ating spectacle of a state commission fixing the price of gas 
in his native city outraged his red-blooded Americanism and 
challenged the foundations of our democracy. 

It is difficult to believe that a man making such an appeal 
could take himself seriously or be taken seriously by others, 
and yet he was. Here was a need for critical observation, 
for freedom from the tyranny of established phrases, for 
relief from the evils of static dogmatism. Here, again, 
the public were asked to sacrifice substance for form, human 
interests for literary phrases, and fiction for fact. When 
we can get our students to revering government only as a 
means to legitimate and worthy end; when they will measure 
the value of phrases and conceptions by their contributions 
to human weal, rather than by the perfection of their rhyth¬ 
mic cadence; when local government and home rule are 
studied only in the light of their actual contributions to 
human happiness, instead of being blindly worshiped as 
patriotic and inspiring phrases, then we may hope for prog¬ 
ress. No laws, no public regulation, no political panacea 
can stay the reign of the demagogue. His rule will con¬ 
tinue as long as our civic body will respond to “bunk” in¬ 
stead of brains, and to fiction instead of fact. And this in 
turn must, to a large extent, depend upon the training of 
the public school. 

Then let us start right at the very beginning. Let us 
approach the study of rural government as but an organized 
expression of the community life. Let the student learn 
(let him become so impregnated with the doctrine that it 


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175 


never can be forgotten) that the institutions and laws that 
constitute his rural government, are but the conscious de¬ 
vices or instruments which men have adopted as the basis 
of their cooperative efforts to meet and solve the problems 
of their common life. Let them realize that this was true 
of the fathers as they built up their town meeting in the 
North and the county government in the South. Let them 
never forget the test of these different plans is the service 
that they render. And let them not forget that the glory of 
the fathers consisted, not in the false assumption of their per¬ 
fection, but in their ability to see life as it was, to build insti¬ 
tutions that fitted into the conditions that they confronted, 
and to face courageously and effectively the tremendous 
problems that barred the pathway of national progress. If 
they would emulate the inspiring examples of colonial pa¬ 
triots, it will not be by worship of the trite, the pedantic, 
or the orthodox, but by studying the problems of to-day 
and bringing to their ultimate solution the same courage, 
critical vision and common sense that characterized the 
statesmanship of the fathers. 

We now come to a detailed consideration of rural govern¬ 
ment. Just as we used the functional approach to show the 
necessity and nature of rural government in general, so we 
should use it in developing the various departments of the 
local organization in particular. For example, if we want 
to take up the health department of the local government, 
we would begin with the problems of public health. The 
general nature of disease, with particular reference to those 
that are communicable, should be taken up. The importance 
of health should be emphasized. The many ways in which 
the sickness of one affects the health of others should re¬ 
ceive attention, while the general subject of epidemics, with 
the tragedy and terror that accompany them, should have 
careful consideration. These all contribute to the very im- 


176 


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portant problem of bringing home to youthful consciousness 
the importance of the public health, the impossibility of 
adequate protection by private enterprise, and the corre¬ 
sponding importance of the health department of the gov¬ 
ernment. 

There are few subjects that would offer better oppor¬ 
tunities for effective emotional appeals and which are better 
adapted, therefore, for the social and patriotic training of 
the child. It is when government becomes consciously con¬ 
nected with such problems that the lesson of individual 
responsibility may be driven home, and the sentiment of 
dynamic Americanism may be developed into an effective 
force for better and more efficient government. 

The opportunities for this dramatic appeal to the instinc¬ 
tive life of youth seem so many and so obvious that they 
scarcely require discussion. From an economic standpoint 
the question of health is a matter of startling importance. 
It has been stated on good authority, that the special ex¬ 
pense involved in administering to the sick in this country 
represents five hundred million dollars every year. The total 
annual loss from illness, due to diminished production, has 
been estimated at another five hundred million dollars. The 
loss to the country yearly, of productive power, through the 
premature death of workers, is estimated at another half 
billion of dollars, which brings up the total economic loss 
to one billion and a half. Suppose we could save a consider¬ 
able portion of this loss, think what a saving it would mean 
to the struggling, toiling millions of our land. To-day, 
when the excessive cost of living is bearing down with such 
cruel and deadly force upon the families of so many, sap¬ 
ping their vitality, killing ambition, and bringing misery and 
want, this increased production would have a deep human 
significance that it would be difficult fully to comprehend. 

But we are here dealing only with the economic aspects 


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of the situation. What about the sorrow, the heartaches, 
the loneliness, the orphans and the destitution that sickness 
can produce? Here again the importance of the public 
health can easily be brought home to the experience and un¬ 
derstanding of youth, and he will begin to understand local 
government in terms of human interest. 

When these matters have been sufficiently discussed, then 
we are ready to inquire what provision in our local govern¬ 
ment has been made for the public health. The local officers 
in the particular government and their official powers and 
duties may then be briefly discussed. The emphasis, how¬ 
ever, should not be upon the technical matters of law and 
government, but upon the importance, to the community, 
of the particular duties entrusted to their care. We want 
the students interested primarily in results and their achieve¬ 
ment. We want them to remember, with a vividness that 
can not be forgotten, the importance of those official func¬ 
tions. We want them never to forget the tragedy that will 
follow the failure properly to perform them, and the 
splendid, magnificent results that follow from their faithful 
and efficient discharge. If we can accomplish this, we will 
have tied up the dynamic forces of the child with the effi¬ 
ciency of the local office. We will have created a patriotic 
sentiment that will function as aggressively and effectively 
in these basic problems of peace as it has in the more 
dramatic affairs of war. 

The care of the charitable and penal institutions of the 
locality is another important function entrusted to local 
government. The possibilities of the use of the orphans’ 
home as a means to bringing home to pupils, in an intimate 
and dramatic way, the vital importance of local government, 
has been discussed in a previous chapter. Opportunities 
of the same nature are provided by the other charitable as 
well as the penal institutions of the community. No one 


178 


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with normal sympathies and a reasonably human outlook 
on life could fail to be touched by the pathetic incidents of 
men and women, who in old age find themselves helpless, 
without friends and yet dependent upon the care of others. 
The arrangements provided for their care by the local 
government, thus becomes a matter of very vital interest. 
Mismanagement and incompetence may mean not only 
heartbreaking cruelty and hardship, but the abuse and per¬ 
version of a very important institution to improper and un¬ 
worthy ends. An institution that is managed with care, 
judgment and vision, is doing a humane and noble work, 
that gives to every thoughtful citizen a thrill of pleasure, 
and a sense of pride, that makes him a better citizen and 
a nobler man. But let the institution fall into disrepute 
and the average citizen avoids all thought and contact, be¬ 
cause he desires to shun the thought of misery which will 
give him pain. In time, he becomes hopeless and cynical 
regarding government and politics, and is content to leave 
them to the care of others. 

Nothing succeeds like success and nothing tends to quicken 
pride and interest in local government so much as the suc¬ 
cessful creation and administration of these institutions. 
The sympathetic appeal and the noble achievements they 
are able to accomplish will not fail to catch the popular 
imagination. How to start the public interest enough to 
secure the initial success, is the fundamental problem. Like 
many problems that have to do with public opinion and 
individual responsibility, it will have to be solved largely by 
the educational process. The child must learn in his youth 
the dramatic possibilities that are involved. He must have 
an emotional and instinctive life developed, that is keyed to 
this class of appeals. He must have learned that in attack¬ 
ing and solving just such problems as these, he will find that 
joy and exaltation for which he longs, and which comes to 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


179 


every normal youth in the performance of altruistic deeds. 
Our problem is so to connect the splendid, buoyant, emo¬ 
tional powers of youth with the problems of the community 
that in their solution he finds a challenge to his manhood, 
his heroism, and his patriotic sentiment. 

When the possibilities of these institutions have been made 
clear, then the part of government responsible for their con¬ 
trol should receive attention, until the importance of the 
office involved is made specific, vivid and clear. 

One very important set of functions generally entrusted 
to local government is the question of law enforcement. 
In approaching this problem let us forget none of the pre¬ 
liminary essentials, if the pupils are to have the right point 
of view regarding the nature and function of law, and the 
necessity for its interpretation and enforcement through 
the power of the community and the state. It would be far 
better to ignore it completely than to approach it with the 
“taking everything for granted” attitude. Let us first re¬ 
view the necessity for rules of conduct in the home, and 
the necessity for some one in authority who could lay them 
down and give them force. Then, as neighborhood and 
community problems develop, cooperation became as neces¬ 
sary between the homes as it had been before, within the 
home. But cooperation could not take place without prin¬ 
ciples or laws, any more than baseball could be played with¬ 
out rules. Therefore, there grew up a body of rules or 
laws, some of which originated in the customs of the people, 
while some have been developed by the courts, as they have 
tried to lay down fundamental principles as a basis of de¬ 
ciding disputes that come before them for decision. Still 
other rules have been adopted by the state legislature, an 
institution which will be studied later. 

The necessity of law as a basis of community life should 
be made clear. In the olden times, each family would make 


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its own clothes, shoes and shelter; each family would do its 
own butchering, prepare its own foods, and live its own 
life, largely independently of others. But the clothes were 
coarse, the shoes inferior, the houses without modern com¬ 
forts and conveniences, and the food greatly restricted in 
variety, kind and quality. There was little wealth in those 
days, and what the working man regards as necessities to¬ 
day, w r ere then regarded as the prerogatives of kings and 
queens. 

But with the industrial revolution and the use of steam 
and machinery, things could be manufactured much more 
cheaply than before. This, however, required the division 
of labor. Men no longer made their own shoes and clothes, 
but they could be better and more cheaply made by machines 
in factories, and obviously every man could not have a ma¬ 
chine and factory for his own shoes. And so the process 
developed until one man made shoes, another pins, another 
machinery, etc., throughout the whole of industry. Thus 
society became complicated, and each depended upon the 
work of others for many of the necessities of life. A man 
who made shoes received wages, and with wages he pur¬ 
chased from others the things he had to have. The farmer 
sold his produce and bought in town shoes, clothing and 
food. All of these exchanges and arrangements could not 
take place unless there were rules governing their conduct. 
There had to be rules governing contracts in order that 
persons might make arrangement to purchase the things 
they needed, and feel sure that when the time came, they 
would get that upon which they had agreed. It was neces¬ 
sary, therefore, to have rules determining what constituted 
a valid contract, that fraud must not be employed, that 
undue advantage should not be taken, that contracts should 
be properly interpreted, and then when properly made, 
they should be observed. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


181 


Think of how helpless one would be where there were no 
rules or customs governing contracts, and therefore where 
binding agreements were impossible. One could not buy; 
or sell a farm on credit, for there would be no way of know¬ 
ing whether the money would be paid. One could not hire 
a man to work upon the farm for he would not know when, 
if ever, he would get his pay, and the farmer would never 
know how long the man might stay or when he might refuse 
to work. Much of modern life is based upon contracts of 
one kind and another, which would be impossible without 
rules or customs governing them. 

But this is only one small class of examples illustrating 
the need of law. Take the public health measures, especially 
those dealing with epidemics, and consider how safe one 
might be if there were no such laws or if they could be 
defied with impunity. Suppose that a person afflicted with 
smallpox were allowed to roam the streets, attend school 
and church, and mingle freely with the public. There 
would follow an epidemic of smallpox that would cause 
untold suffering, anguish and loss of life. The health and 
safety of all are thus dependent upon the adequate quaran¬ 
tine laws and their efficient administration. 

Then there are pure food and drug laws that are enacted 
to protect the individual from drugs and foods that are im¬ 
pure or unwholesome. One can not go to a chemist to 
test the purity of foods or drugs every time one buys them, 
and it therefore becomes necessary for the state to enact 
laws that will prevent the sale of improper articles, and 
will compel the manufacturer to state expressly just what 
the article contains. The injuries to health and happiness 
that have been wrought through the continuous use of im¬ 
pure and poisonous drugs would afford a story of human 
tragedy that would make one wonder why more such laws 
have not been enacted. 


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Then there are laws that are passed to protect liberty 
and property. Most of us live in such peace and security 
that we forget that it is only through the wise enactment 
and efficient administration of the law that this peace and 
security is achieved. To emphasize the importance of this 
fact, a gifted teacher whom I know, asked a pupil who 
tiad a very pretty necklace, if she passed anybody on her 
Way to school. She asked her if the necklace were valuable. 
If so, why did not the man that she passed take the necklace 
from her? He could easily have done so, had he tried. If 
she answered it was because the man was good and kind, 
then she was asked if the man would have taken it if he 
had been cruel and wicked. Here an interesting discussion 
developed, involving policemen, jails, fines, etc., but out of 
which confusion finally came the consciousness that it was 
the potential power of the state, in the last analysis, that 
protected the necklace. 

This can be carried further by asking the girl what would 
happen to her necklace if she were living in the more lawless 
parts of Mexico, or in some section of benighted Russia 
where law and order have not yet been established. The 
alternative to an adequate system of law and its efficient 
enforcement, can be brought home with such striking effect 
that it will have a marked effect on youthful understanding. 
Let the pupil have glimpses of what has happened to inno¬ 
cent and self-respecting folk in our own land on those spe¬ 
cial occasions, when, for the time being, anarchy has sup¬ 
planted law. The recent race wars and some of our indus¬ 
trial conflicts will afford sufficient evidence. 

These several topics should be so studied and considered 
that the value of lawful government makes an irresistible 
appeal to the imagination, the impulses and the sentiments 
of youth. The very real terror and menace of anarchy 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


183 


should be driven home, until the sentiment of patriotism 
will respond as vigorously to defy the forces of lawlessness 
within, as it does to oppose the foreign foes without. This 
sentiment does not involve a static conception of the ap¬ 
pro vel of the established order, but a deep and intimate 
understanding of the necessity of lawful processes to human 
progress. This sentiment is based upon the proposition 
that law and liberty are in concord, not in conflict, and that 
evolution, not revolution, affords the surest means of pro¬ 
gress. Our youth must gain this conception, if it is to 
profit by the history and experience of the race. 

We are now ready to approach the local departments of 
government that look after the enforcement of law. If 
the necessity of law has been made clear, the student is 
prepared to recognize the tremendous importance of these 
officers. He sees their importance to the community. He 
can readily glimpse the terrible consequences that would 
prevail should they lack courage, or conviction. The im¬ 
portance and significance of rural government thus comes 
home to him with vividness and conviction. As partly re¬ 
sponsible for its success or failure, his opportunities and 
duties as a citizen will make a strong appeal to the generous 
and heroic impulses of youth. 

Another function of rural government is the education 
and training of the youth in the public school. It would 
be difficult to find a subject of greater social significance 
than the rural schools. It is significant that the great bulk 
of thinkers and writers upon the rural life problem tend 
to find in the development and perfection of the school, the 
hope of the community, and the solution of its problems. 
Space does not permit a discussion of this fascinating prob¬ 
lem, with which thinking teachers are perfectly familiar. 
The transcendent importance of this subject is so obvious 
as to need no further comment. To reduce this information 


184 


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to the terms of the experience of the child would seem to 
require no special aid. 

There are many examples and many splendid books that 
bring out the facts in an interesting and convincing way. 
Perhaps the best method of approach is to relate the achieve¬ 
ments accomplished in some neighborhoods by a rural school 
that has been efficient and successful and where the teacher 
has developed a high degree of community leadership. The 
effect on the social life of the community has frequently 
been far-reaching and important. The study of problems 
of agriculture and domestic science by the pupils and their 
demonstration upon the farm has taught many a parent in¬ 
valuable lessons that he had thought himself too old to 
learn. The organization of corn clubs, pig clubs and calf 
clubs has stimulated private initiative, brought home the 
yalue of scientific training, encouraged business methods and 
systems of accounting, provided profitable and interesting 
employment during vacation periods, increased the produc¬ 
tion of the community, and established habits of thrift, fore¬ 
sight and frugality, that will yield large dividends through 
life. 

The development of the idea of the civic center with the 
gathering together of the people of the community, has 
helped to restore to farm life something of the old thrills 
and comradeships that gave the bright and glowing colors 
to farm life in the days of the barn raisings and the husking 
bees. In these gatherings they thrash out their common 
problems, study out cooperative methods for their improve¬ 
ments, and as they unite in the solution of their common 
problems, they learn anew the joy and thrill of common 
enterprise. There seems to be no limit to the dynamic force 
that can be generated through the developments of com¬ 
munity consciousness. Such a revolution in a rural com¬ 
munity means a spiritual and social regeneration of rural 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


185 


life. Farm life passes from a competition in drudgery to a 
competition in business management and scientific effort. 
Barren isolation gives way to cooperative effort. Study, 
community activity and intelligent planning afford alluring 
variations from the monotony of manual toil. Farm life 
becomes not only more productive but more abundant. It 
has a broader outlook and a spiritual quality that is more 
dynamic and profound. And out of this all comes a better 
citizen and a broader man. 

That this regeneration may come through the influence 
of a rural school may seem unduly optimistic. But in rela¬ 
tively short periods, many of these things have been actually 
accomplished. And we have yet only scratched the surface 
of the possibilities that lie ahead. It is with such a program 
as this, based upon specific accomplishment, that we may en¬ 
list the interest and enthusiasm of the pupils. Once they 
get the vision, they have gone a tremendous stride in the 
preparation for effective citizenship. Local government, 
with its rural school, will remain for them a matter of more 
than passing interest. It will mean to them the possible real¬ 
ization of a dream, both graphic and alluring. 

It will be impossible to treat of all the functions of rural 
government and the machinery adapted for their perform¬ 
ance. Enough has perhaps been written to suggest some 
helpful methods of approach by which the subject-matter 
of the chapter may be utilized in the intellectual and moral 
development of the boy and girl. 

But it must not be supposed that the subject of rural life 
and government is completed with a consideration of govern¬ 
mental functions and the appropriate machinery. Perhaps 
this has been one of our great mistakes. We have not al¬ 
ways seen that training for citizenship in a bigger and 
broader conception than training for the suffrage, as funda¬ 
mental and important as that is. There are innumerable 


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duties of citizenship that find no connection with the ballot 
box, and yet that are essential to an aggressive and militant 
democracy. There are many community enterprises, re¬ 
quiring cooperative efforts, that are essential to the fullest 
and best life of the people, that are not provided for by thq 
forms of law. Some of the finest public service that I have 
ever seen has been performed outside of public office. In 
modern life, there are innumerable appeals that challenge 
the best and noblest instincts of the race, that can best be 
met through the initiative of private enterprise. A citizen 
who does not respond to this appeal, who can not cooperate 
with his fellows in response to such a call, who feels no 
sense of personal accountability for the public weal, is not 
prepared for the duties of democracy. 

One of the needs found in every community is the re¬ 
ligious one. Men have always sought religious expression, 
whether it be in the fantastic rites of barbarism or in the 
cultivated forms approved by* the modern church. In 
modern times men have organized for the effective expres¬ 
sion of religious life, whether in the forms of theological 
controversy, religious wars or the service of humanity. With 
the growth of civilization and the spread of intelligence, 
the church has developed to meet the spiritual needs of the 
new life. Many of its earlier functions have been sup¬ 
planted by secular institutions. But there still remains im¬ 
portant work for it to do. 

Modern religion represents a vast storehouse of dynamic 
force. When intelligently interpreted, it meets deep-felt 
wants in the lives of all. This force should be developed 
and utilized. Some institution must provide the means by 
which the religious aspirations of the people may become 
articulate in their daily life. The church, if properly con¬ 
ceived, may answer this deep-felt want. Here the religious 
emotion may be nourished and directed. Here men and 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


187 


women may meet on the common ground of humanity. 
Here, under proper leadership, they may get a clearer vision 
of life, a higher conception of its duties, a nobler idea of 
humanity. Such an institution will not solve the technical 
problems of the community, but it may develop a generous 
ardor, a moving spirit of altruism, and a genuine sense of 
community fellowship, that will provide the motive and 
desire to support effectively the leadership of the intelligent 
and informed in the fields of technical endeavor. 

Students of rural life have emphasized the evils of isola¬ 
tion, lack of fellowship, and the absence of spiritual and 
altruistic motive. Here certainly is an institution that will 
tend to break through the barriers of isolation, bring the 
people together in the bonds of human fellowship and re¬ 
ligious aspiration, and give to their life and effort a spiritual 
and human touch that is so much required. It is the pur¬ 
pose of the church, when properly conceived, not to restrain 
and hamper life, but to give life and to give it more abun¬ 
dantly. 

Related to the work of the rural churches is the work of 
the County Young Men’s Christian Association. Its pur¬ 
pose is declared to be the uniting “in a town, village, rural 
community, or in the open country, the vital forces of young 
manhood for self-government, physically, socially, mentally 
and spiritually, and to give expression to these resources 
in community life for the betterment of others.” Its method 
of operation is “to discover, enlist, train and utilize leader¬ 
ship.” It seeks to organize the energies and activities of 
the young men of the community into lines of useful and 
beneficial endeavor. Wholesome recreation, formation of 
good habits, emphasis upon right living, and the service of 
God through service to the community are some of the things 
it seeks to stimulate. In some cases buildings are erected, 
and secretaries are employed as means of perfecting the 


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organized social and spiritual life of the community. What 
such an organization can mean in the life of a lonesome 
country boy, eager for companions, responsive to true leader¬ 
ship, and anxious to participate in the team work of the 
community, it is impossible to say. 

But these organizations require financial support, mem¬ 
bership, loyalty and cooperation as essentials to their success. 
Unless our boys and girls have seen the crying needs, un¬ 
less they have felt the importance of their success, unless 
they have developed a patriotic sentiment that functions in 
terms of social as well as political life, they are not prepared 
for true community citizenship. 

Another voluntary organization, already referred to, is 
the civic center. It generally centers about the school and 
involves the organization of the various interests of the 
community. Farmers" institutes, women’s clubs, domestic 
science clubs, university extension courses, boys" clubs and 
similar organizations function through the civic center. 
The good that results from such development is obvious. 
It is another foe to isolation, extreme individualism and 
mutual suspicion. Here the folk find comradeship, altruism, 
broader vision, sympathy and tolerance. Here they learn 
the value, the importance, the necessity and the thrill of co¬ 
operative endeavor. 

But all of these things require leadership, vision, courage, 
loyalty to the community interest, and the capacity to lose 
one s self in the interests of all. Here is another demand 
upon the citizenship of the future that we must meet. Here 
is another aspect of constructive patriotism for which we 
must provide. The efficient citizen is not merely, there¬ 
fore, an intelligent voter or a valiant soldier. He is one 
that lives through and in the life of his community, whose 
patriotism is as broad as humanity and as powerful as the 
deepest instinct of human nature; and who finds joy and 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


189 


zest in the continuous struggle toward the development of a 
community life that is wholesome, generous and dynamic. 

It may be suggested that the books in civics which the 
teacher is required to use may not be suitable to the task at 
hand. Certainly some of them are not inherently suited to 
the method or point of view that I have attempted to defend. 
This does not mean, however, that they may not be so em¬ 
ployed by the teacher who has the courage, imagination 
and inventive genius to find a way. If a text is devoted 
primarily to the structure of government, then the functional 
approach may be easily supplied by any teacher of intelli¬ 
gence and zeal. If, on the other hand, much is said of 
functions and the definite organization through which the 
functions are performed is too briefly treated, it will not 
be difficult to provide sufficient material of a supplementary 
nature. This is quite frequently necessary, particularly in 
reference to local government. But whatever be the prob¬ 
lem, let us face it squarely and remember that our task is 
to make the citizenship and not to teach the text. Let us 
seek no alibis in the fancied mistakes of the man who wrote 
the book. Let us not forget that social, moral and intel¬ 
lectual training is our immediate aim and citizenship our 
goal 

What will be the significance of this new rural citizenship 
in the life of a nation as a whole? Increased production 
will contribute its quota to ease the cost of living and bring 
relief to the poor and impoverished. The half of our 
people, those upon the farm, will have found a more joyful 
and more abundant life. But more important still, the 
whole nation will have gained from a new citizenship whose 
broad vision, generous ardor, and warm blood will introduce 
a new and vital element into our national life. At present 
we seem torn by the convulsions of a class struggle that is 
stern and bitter. Its ultimate decision seems fraught with 


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imminent peril. If labor should establish a supreme control, 
it would hardly do justice to the public and its opposing foes. 
If capital should control the nation in the selfish interests 
of its class, justice would suffer and peace would not endure. 
Some place between the two extremes, there must be the 
golden mean. Some place from American citizenship there 
must arise a group who care not for the dictates of capital 
nor the demands of labor, a group that recognizes no loyalty 
save to the ideals of our nation, no creed save that of justice, 
no ambition save the service of humanity. With half of our 
citizens upon the farm, removed from immediate participa¬ 
tion in industrial welfare, it is from the rural life that such 
a group will largely come. In the reconstruction of rural 
life then we are reestablishing the foundations of our democ¬ 
racy. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. Enumerate some of the things in rural life that may be used to 
make an effective appeal to the instinctive life of the student. 

2. What vital, immediate interest do those who live in the cities 
have in the regeneration of rural life? 

3. What pedagogical advantage is there in having the student 
trace out the origin of rural government? 

4. Can you state specifically just what was the weakness in the 
argument, cited in the text, in favor of home rule and against the 
regulation of local rates, by a state public utility commission? 

5. What immediate interest do the people who live in the city 
have in the rural life of the surrounding territory? 

6. Give illustrations of the problem method and how it could be 
employed in the rural life of your community. 

7. What voluntary organizations of your community deserve spe¬ 
cial study? How would you approach the matter? 

8. Suggest the three best illustrations by which the necessity of 
law may be brought home to the student in connection with the 
study of rural life and government. 

9. In what activities in your community could the pupils take an 
active part? 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


191 


10. Outline a definite program of functional approach for the 
study of your rural community. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Butterfield, Kenyon, Chapters in Rural Progress (The University 
of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 1907). 

Cubberley, Ellwood P., Rural Life and Education (Houghton, Mif¬ 
flin Company, Boston, 1914). 

Eggleston, J. D., and Bruere, Robert W., The Work of the Rural 
School (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1913). 

Gillette, James M., Constructive Rural Sociology (Sturgis & Walton, 
New York, 1916). 

Betts, George Herbert, and Hall, Otis Earl, Better Rural Schools 
(Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1914). 

Bailey, Liberty Hyde, Country Life Movement in the United States 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1911). 

Waugh, Frank A., Rural Improvement (Judd, New York, 1914). 
Hart, Albert B., Actual Government (Longmans, Green & Co., New 
York, 1908). 

Chapter X, “Rural Units of Government.” 

Munro, William B., The Government of the United States (Macmil¬ 
lan Company, New York, 1919). 

Chapter XXXVII, “The History of Local Government.” 
Chapter XXXVIII, “County Government.” 

Chapter XXXIX, “Towns, Townships and Villages.” 

Farwell, Parris T., Village Improvement (Sturgis, New York, 1913). 
Fairlie, John A., Local Government in Counties, Towns and Vil¬ 
lages (The Century Company, New York, 1906). 

Galpin, C. J., Rural Life (The Century Company, New York, 1919). 
This is a very valuable discussion of the social and political 
aspects of rural life. 

Sims, The Rural Community (Scribner’s, New York, 1920). 

Where to write for further information: 

The United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 
State College of Agriculture. 

State Experiment Station. 

County Agent of Agriculture. 


CHAPTER VIII 


CITY LIFE AND GOVERNMENT 1 

INHERE is no denying that the government of cities 
X is the one conspicuous failure of the United States. 
The deficiencies of the national government tell but little 
for evil on the welfare of the people. The faults of the 
state governments are insignificant compared with the ex¬ 
travagance, corruption, and mismanagement which mark 
the administration of most of the great cities.” 

These words of James Bryce, representing as they do the 
mature reflections of a distinguished statesman and scholar, 
must challenge the attention and interest of thoughtful 
citizens everywhere. Moreover, while his criticisms are 
leveled primarily at the governments of great cities, there 
is much evidence that the governments of smaller cities have 
been subject to just rebuke. Perhaps their evils have not 
been so gross or their misconduct so criminal, but it would 
scarcely be denied that they have failed to express accurately 
the best ideals and aims of American democracy. 

In the same chapter in which this distinguished author 
uttered his condemnation of city government, he expressed 
the hope that better days were ahead, as he saw the people 
awakening to the evil and demanding adequate reforms. 
Rogues are less audacious. Good citizens are more active. 
Party spirit is still permitted to dominate and pervert munici¬ 
pal politics, yet the mischief it does is more clearly discerned 
and the npmber of those who resist it daily increases. In 
the increase of that number and the growth of a stronger 
sense of civic duty rather than in any changes of mechanism. 

192 


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193 


lies the ultimate hope for the reform of city governments” 
(Italics are mine.) Subsequent developments have vindi¬ 
cated this hopeful prophecy, and yet there is much that re¬ 
mains to be done. 

There was a time when it seemed that city government 
was hopeless. The people, absorbed in business enterprise, 
in the quest for markets and the competition for trade, 
seemed to view the misery and hopelessness of city life 
with a cynical indifference. They seemed to take it as an 
inevitable result of city growth. They lacked the imagina¬ 
tion, the sympathy and the human understanding to see in 
the great proportions of the modern city, the real hope of 
democratic achievement. For where men are gathered to¬ 
gether in great throngs, united in the interests of a common 
life and a common economic destiny, there is opportunity 
for team work and cooperative enterprise, such as can exist 
in no other way. The slums and tenements of a great city 
seem to offer little hope for human amelioration, but when 
one sees them replaced with model tenements, modern play¬ 
grounds, social settlements and civic centers, one gets a 
glimpse of the brighter vision that is yet to come. 

If the industrial city, with its miserable hovels and deso¬ 
late tenements, where children are born to open their eyes 
on scenes of poverty, misery and disgrace; where they are 
reared amid the corrupting influence of crime and immoral¬ 
ity ; and where their only heroes and heroines are too fre¬ 
quently the successful sneak thieves or the painted women 
of the streets, if such a city will reflect, in the lives of its 
poorer children, the cynical and blighting influences that 
made the environment of their youth, then the hope and the 
possibilities of the city become clear. For the environment 
can be changed. Crime can be blotted out. The miserable 
hovels can be made to disappear. The civic center and the 
school can replace the brothel and the den. Supervised 


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recreation in public playgrounds can supplant the unorgan¬ 
ized play amid the evil influences of the city streets. Civic 
art, expressed in innumerable different forms, may replace 
the desolation of the filthy streets, with their wretched tene¬ 
ments. The gang instinct of the boy may find expression 
in the directed efforts of athletic leagues and civic clubs 
instead of in the criminal pranks of hoodlum gangs. 

Travelers tell of visiting cities of Europe where the little 
children of the streets whistle and sing the great music of 
the masters, while our children know only the rag-time of 
the dance-hall. Just as these children reflect in their musical 
taste the influence of their environment, so will they reflect 
in their personalities, their characters and their lives, the 
ideals and aspirations that they find expressed in the life 
around them. If they live amid an environment where the 
spiritual, the altruistic and the human find an adequate ex¬ 
pression, and where the community radiates the joy and 
hope of democracy and opportunity, these forces will find 
articulate expression in their lives and deeds. In these 
cities where there are found such marvelous opportunities 
to provide an ideal environment for the boys and girls, is to 
be found much of the hope for an improved and perfected 
democracy. 

This vision of the city as one of the hopes of democracy 
tnust come to the teacher if she is to teach municipal life 
and government with the interest and imagination that their 
importance merits. It is only when one’s own imagination 
is fired with vision and conviction that there comes the 
largest power to carry the lesson and inspiration to others. 
And it is in this vision that one must find a large part of the 
dynamic force with which to enlist and stimulate the in¬ 
stinctive and emotional life of the boy and girl. 

The study of city life and government must be begun 
with the proverbial question, “Why?” Why do we have 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


195 


great cities where people live in such congested conditions, 
where rents are raised so high, where housing conditions 
become so difficult, and the dangers and complexities of 
life increase with such tremendous speed? Why have not 
the people remained upon the farm and in the rural com¬ 
munities, where these particular and more glaring evils have 
not appeared? A glance at statistics will show that the 
growth of cities has been tremendous in the last century 
particularly in the latter half. In 1850 the percentage of 
people living in cities of over eight thousand inhabitants 
was only twelve per cent. In 1860 it had increased to six¬ 
teen per cent., in 1900 to thirty-three per cent, and in 1910 
to almost thirty-nine per cent. 

These figures have been so startling to many that there 
has grown up at various times a storm of protest against 
the rapid growth. “Back to the soil” has become a slogan 
with many movements, whose only aim has been to prevent 
the growth of powerful and wicked cities. But the problem 
is more fundamental than these enthusiasts have been will¬ 
ing to admit. Therefore it is important to set to the student 
the problems presented by this marvelous development in 
city growth. Why has it been so rapid ? What forces have 
contributed? Are they permanent forces? Can people be 
educated so that they will not flock in such great numbers 
to the cities? These are fundamental questions that can 
not afford to be slighted, and that provide the ideal materials 
for class-room work, particularly among the more advanced 
grades. 

As these problems are put to the class, the first response 
will probably represent the personal reactions of the class 
to the relative attractiveness of rural and city life. In spite 
of the many drawbacks of city life, there will be those who 
prefer the life of the city to that of the farm. It is well 
known that thousands will deliberately live in poverty in a 


196 


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city, rather than in reasonable respectability upon the farm. 
The reasons for this will help to drive home the needs of 
more social life upon the farm which has been emphasized 
in the preceding chapter. They dislike the isolation. They 
long for the crowd, for human relationships, for the interest 
and zest of the day, things which too frequently are entirely 
lacking in rural life. It would seem, therefore, that if people 
are to be made content with rural life, and the rural move¬ 
ment is to meet with any success, that it must be through 
some kind of regeneration of rural life as has been previ¬ 
ously suggested. 

But will this take care of the entire problem? If the 
great majority of the people desired to return to the farm, 
would it be possible? This brings up the question, which 
will occur to students very readily, what will the people do 
upon the farm? Moreover, if everybody leaves the city, 
what will the manufacturers do for the labor to man their 
factories and produce the manufactured goods that the 
farmer has to have? It will soon become obvious to the 
class that such a wholesale movement would involve funda¬ 
mental industrial and economic changes. 

The nature of these changes may be illustrated by re¬ 
versing the questions. What happened in the middle of the 
last century when the people began to leave the farm and 
move to the city? If in 1850 only twelve per cent, of the 
people lived in cities and now thirty-nine per cent, live in 
cities, what has the farmer done for labor on the farm? 
Since people can not live without the food and clothing that 
comes from agricultural production, how has the production 
been maintained, with the great shift of people from the 
farm to the city ? Here is a problem that goes to the very 
gist of the situation. How can sixty-one per cent, of the 
people now do the work upon the farms when eighty-eight 
per cent, were required in 1850? A little ingenious ques- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


197 


tioning will draw out the significant fact that much of the 
work now done by machinery was then done by hand. This 
introduces the whole subject of the industrial revolution 
and the application of steam and machinery to the various 
methods of production and distribution. 

The children by inquiring at home as to methods of agri¬ 
culture employed in the youth of their parents, and by com¬ 
paring them with the methods of to-day, will not lose much 
time in discovering that, through the invention of machinery 
and mechanical power, one man now does as much work 
upon the farm as was formerly done by many. A compari¬ 
son of the old and modern methods of harvesting, thrashing 
and sowing grain will bring this out in a clear and vivid 
manner. It has been declared that one man now does as 
much work upon the farm, with the aid of labor-saving 
devices, as was formerly done by fifteen. In other words 
machinery has tended to supplant man labor upon the farm. 
But what became of the men whom the machinery had dis¬ 
placed? If one man now does the work formerly done by 
fifteen, what has become of the other fourteen who are 
thereby left without employment? It will doubtless be 
suggested that if they stay upon the farm they will starve or 
live on the bounty of others, since there is no work there 
for them to do. Then what could they do ? 

In the meantime it may be wise to set another set of 
problems. Who is making the machinery that is being em¬ 
ployed upon the farm? Who manufactures the thrashing 
machines, the drills, the mowers, the tractors and the other 
new devices that have revolutionized agricultural methods? 
Do not these industries require labor for which there had 
been no previous demand? Where did the big factories 
get the men they needed ? The answer now seems obvious 
that the men released upon the farm secured employment in 
the factories that were springing up as if by magic. For 


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with the application of steam to machinery and manufactur¬ 
ing, the industrial productivity of the nation increased by 
leaps and bounds. The demand for manufactured goods 
increased not only with the growth of population but with 
the rapidly expanding wants of a prosperous people. The 
luxuries of one decade became the necessities of the next. 
In the meantime, the demand for agricultural products 
only increased about as rapidly as the population, since 
man’s capacity to consume the products of the farm tends 
to be stationary, while the demand for manufactured articles 
increases with his inventive genius and the desire for luxury 
and conveniences. 

But this creates another set of problems. Why do the 
factories locate in the cities? Why should the tremendous 
increase in manufacturing mean a corresponding increase 
in the population of urban centers? These problems will 
not be difficult for the children to answer when their atten¬ 
tion is called to the benefits of large scale production. This 
means that factories to be productive must be large. This 
involves the employment of a large number of employees 
who must obviously live in the vicinity of the factory. For 
instance, one steel plant may employ ten thousand men. 
These employees, with their families, and the mechanics, 
the artisans, professional men and merchants who serve 
them, will furnish the population for a city of considerable 
dimensions. It is this process multiplied many times that 
produces our greatest cities and that has increased the total 
urban population of the country. 

But this merely raises another problem. Why do these 
factories gather in the same cities or localities, resulting in 
the tremendous cities that we have? Why do they not 
scatter out more, relieving the congestion where it is the 
worst? This raises some very interesting questions, which 
the children should be interested in solving. Take, for 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


199 


instance, the city of Chicago. Why have industries flocked 
to Chicago? Why have they not scattered to other cities 
where property would be cheaper, home-building easier, 
and the worst problems of the great city could be evaded? 
Are there any special reasons why one would want to erect 
a great factory in or near Chicago? Take another city, 
Gary, Indiana. This city has grown from a mere desolate 
sand-pile in 1905, to a city of over sixteen thousand in 1910. 
What caused this marvelous development in five years? 
The answer will be rather obvious to many. It was the 
building of a great steel plant there that made the city. 
But why was the steel plant erected at that point? Why 
should the directors of the steel plant pick the sand-hills of 
northern Indiana, bordering upon Lake Michigan, for the 
location of their plant ? Was there a valid reason or was it 
the mere whim or caprice of the directors? What ad¬ 
vantages would they find in this location ? 

These questions go to the very bottom of the question 
of the location and building of cities. The student should 
be directed to inquiry along the lines of the influence of 
transportation, the proximity of raw material, the question 
of supplies of fuel, and similar matters which lie at the 
bottom of the questions propounded. Let them look at the 
map of the United States with particular reference to the 
cities of Chicago and Gary. Call their attention to the fact 
that the railroads east and west across the northern portion 
of the United States have to converge at some common 
point on or near the south end of Lake Michigan in order to 
get around the lake. 

Then call their attention to the cheap system of transpor¬ 
tation provided by the Great Lakes and the nature of the 
country that is tapped by this system. This includes the 
rich mineral deposits of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michi¬ 
gan, the coal deposits of Pennsylvania, and markets for the 


200 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


finished products in eight states, and some of the most 
populous and wealthy sections of the Dominion of Canada. 
In addition to this, is there any significance in the fact that 
Chicago is located near the cheap coal fields of Indiana and 
Illinois? From all of these varied factors, it will not be 
difficult to understand, and for the children to discover, 
why the territory covered by Chicago, Gary and the neigh¬ 
boring cities, was selected as the site for many manu¬ 
facturing enterprises. 

From these considerations the children learn anew that 
cities, like other phenomena of our political and economic 
life, do not merely “just happen,” but are the result of some 
antecedent causes. Since the application of steam and ma¬ 
chinery to agriculture, manufacturing and transportation, 
great cities have been inevitable and the location has been 
determined by considerations of industrial efficiency and 
strategic relation to sources of raw material, markets for 
the finished product, and cheap and effective means of 
transportation. The industries that were erected without 
regard to these considerations could not compete and disap¬ 
peared. Thus city life in America is not the result of the 
whim or caprice of our people, but the inevitable outcome 
of inexorable economic laws. 

Several distinct gains are achieved by this method of 
approach. In the first place, it helps to fasten upon the 
child the evolutionary point of view, with its insistence upon 
tracing results back to their ultimate causes. City govern¬ 
ment, the growth of great centers of population, their lo¬ 
cation in particular places—all these factors have back of 
them great principles of social and economic laws, in accord¬ 
ance with which our municipal life evolves. In the explana¬ 
tion of these causes lies an appeal to the instinct of curiosity 
and a challenge to one’s intellect, that it seems almost crim¬ 
inal to neglect. Of almost equal importance is the sane 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


201 


and accurate attitude toward city problems that is bound 
to follow. To one who has thus approached the problems 
of municipal government and life, the absurd notions that 
have from time to time prevailed, that the hope of our 
nation lies in the return of our people to the farm and 
rural community, will fail entirely of its appeal. For such 
an appeal is fundamentally opposed to economic laws that 
will not be denied. 

The citizen with such a training and approach will regard 
the city as a necessary problem, and he will center his ener¬ 
gies, to the extent that he be interested, not upon the hope¬ 
less task of its destruction, but upon the more practical 
program for its solution. A vast gain will have been made 
when we take this attitude toward the city, and when we 
recognize that its wickedness is not an inherent element in 
city life, but the mere product of civic blindness and neglect. 
The solution of our city problems is not the destruction 
of our cities, but the education of their people. The very 
conditions of congested population that emphasize its wick¬ 
edness and horror are the opportunities for a program of 
public education and social training that no other conditions 
can produce. 

As a result of the fact that economic laws have deter¬ 
mined the location and development of cities, it follows 
quite naturally that economic considerations have been the 
controlling elements in the building and planning of the 
cities that have been built. In the desire to recognize and 
observe these more obvious economic laws, certain other 
considerations of the highest importance have been ignored. 
In the planning and arrangement of cities, it too frequently 
has been forgotten that the city is not only to be the site of 
industrial production, but also the home of the people who 
produce. Considerations of health, civic art, public con¬ 
venience, and ordinary comfort have been ruthlessly ig- 


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nored. As a result, beautiful sites that should have been 
preserved for parks and playgrounds have been monopolized 
by industrial interests. Consider what an unobstructed lake 
front, running through the entire south side of Chicago, 
and devoted to a public park, would mean to the people of 
Chicago, but most of it is ruined by a group of railroads 
that have monopolized the shore. 

Factories have been built without regard to whether the 
surrounding territory is a fit and wholesome place for the 
families of employees to make their homes. The people 
would live the best they could. Unscrupulous landlords, 
taking advantage of the fact that people have to live where 
they work, have built dreary, desolate tenements, without 
regard to health, comfort or decency, and the people, left 
without a choice, have had to make these tenements their 
homes, at rents that too frequently have been exorbitant. 

With this unfolding of the causes that have produced 
our cities, we are now ready for the problem of municipal 
government itself. And again we begin with the question, 
“Why?” Why have a special government for the city? Is 
not the government of the township or county sufficient 
for the people’s needs ? Are there new forms of cooperative 
effort necessary in the city to solve problems that did not 
exist in the rural districts? It takes but little imagination 
for the boy or girl who understands the gigantic size of some 
of our cities, and the economic factors that determined their 
development, to begin to see the problems that inhere in 
the conditions of a congested population. Things that are 
safely left to individual discretion in rural life could not be 
so left in the conditions of the modern city. Garbage re¬ 
moval, sewerage disposal, fire protection, water supply, 
traffic regulations, building restrictions, city planning, pro¬ 
vision and regulation of market facilities, regulation of 
street-cars, busses and other forms of urban transportation, 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


203 


housing conditions, parks and playgrounds, adequate sys¬ 
tems of police, prevention of disease, prohibition of nui¬ 
sances, paving and cleaning of streets and the preservation 
of peace and order, are among the many peculiar problems 
that confront the people of a city. Life in a city would 
soon become unbearable unless these problems were partly 
solved at least. 

A mere recital of the problems is sufficient to indicate 
that they can not be solved either by private enterprise or 
the simple organization of rural government. Therefore, 
additional government is required, and the people have 
established it. Municipal government, like the organization 
of the family, or the machinery of a town or county, thus 
comes into being as a means to very definite and important 
ends. And it is only as it meets these ends, solves these 
problems, and serves the people of the community, that it 
can be said to be successful. This conception can not be 
emphasized too frequently, and any presentation of any 
form or kind of government, in any other way than so as 
to emphasize this fundamental fact, is to that extent failing 
to prepare and equip the student for effective, aggressive 
citizenship. 

Moreover, it should be made clear that the many regula¬ 
tions and restraints that are made upon the lives and liberties 
of the people, are not made for their inconvenience but for 
their service. It is entirely too easy for us to regard some 
of these regulations that vex us with their restraints, as 
arbitrary interferences with our individual rights. This 
attitude is, no doubt, responsible for no small portion of 
the disrespect for law that seems entirely too prevalent in 
America. It is this unintelligent and mistaken conviction 
that makes a policy of law enforcement almost impossible 
in regard to many things. Nor is there reason to believe 
that this situation will be remedied until the great majority 


204' 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


of our people recognize the importance and significance of 
law and government, and their absolute necessity to the 
accomplishment of the things that most of us hold dear. 

When we can view the laws of the community the same 
as we view the regulations of the home, as the wisely adopted 
measures to insure the enjoyment of our liberties and 
powers, then may we hope for permanent reform. When we 
can comprehend that government, in a democratic country, 
is nothing but the basis or instrument through which the 
people cooperate for the better ordering of their lives, we 
may expect a more intelligent attitude toward the problems 
of government and law. When the first city ordinances 
against the abominable habit of expectorating upon the side¬ 
walks were enacted, they were practically impossible to 
enforce. But with the proper education about the dangers 
of communicable diseases and how easily they might thus 
be spread, the enforcement of the ordinance became much 
easier. The first game laws were generally received by the 
populace as unwarranted interferences with customary 
rights, and generally met with secret, if not flagrant, viola¬ 
tion. But when the game became so scarce and the objects 
of the law were brought home to the people, they then saw 
in it a way by which the game might, in the interest of the 
community, be preserved for future years. It goes without 
saying that it was only then that its enforcement became 
effective. 

These illustrations merely emphasize the practical im¬ 
portance of the functional approach and the evolutionary 
point of view. When people see in government an instru¬ 
ment for their service, it will receive their continuous sup¬ 
port. When they can see in its laws, regulations that are 
intended for their betterment and which in fact provide 
them with the means of enjoying more fully their liberties 
and rights, their enforcement becomes feasible, and they 



DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


205 


lose their contemptuous dislike for law. This makes for a 
sentiment of law and order, conceived only as an indispens¬ 
able means toward the accomplishment of worthy ends, 
and supported by the forces of enlightened self-interest and 
the hopes of altruistic endeavor, which are the only con¬ 
ceptions of law and order that can endure. 

Having shown the absolute necessity of city government 
as a means of meeting the pressing problems peculiar to 
city life, the time has now come to take up the forms of the 
government itself. This should always be preceded by a 
series of problems dealing with the origin and history of 
the present forms as they are found. In trying to account 
for the forms of government found in American cities, 
some very valuable experiences may be gained, and some 
very ingenious work in problem solving may be done. The 
history of the development of city government in America, 
while not very gratifying, is at least exceedingly instructive. 
Without attempting to trace in detail the development of 
city government in the United States, there are some out¬ 
standing features that need suggesting. In the first place 
the growth of cities in the United States has been so tre¬ 
mendous, and the new problems created thereby have come 
with such bewildering complexity and rapidity, that it was 
a task of gigantic proportions. Added to this are the addi¬ 
tional factors that at the time of the beginning of the growth 
of American cities, there also occurred the popular move¬ 
ment against suffrage qualifications, and this, moreover, was 
followed by great increases in the tide of immigration. 

With the new cities springing up overnight and bringing 
with them problems that were new and varied; with the 
bars of suffrage being lowered until, in many states, it 
was not even required that one should be a fully naturalized 
citizen before he be allowed to vote; and with swarms of 
foreigners seeking our shores, receiving prematurely the 


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DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


right of suffrage; with the corrupting influences that ap¬ 
peared with the development of public utilities, special 
franchises, and fabulous public contracts, it does not seem 
strange that the burdens cast upon our earlier forms of 
municipal government should have proved to be heavier 
than we could bear. 

With the beginning of municipal government, the early 
statesmen, realizing that the older forms inherited largely 
from England were no longer suited to the new class of 
problems, nevertheless made the fatal error of assuming that 
the form of government that had been so conspicuously 
successful in the federal government, and which had been 
copied in the state governments with more or less success, 
would be suited to the problems of the city. They began at 
the wrong end of the problem. Instead of analyzing their 
problem and then building machinery of government that 
would be suited to it, they asked themselves what kind of 
government they thought they liked, and tried to force 
municipal problems to fit the machinery thus established. 
The principle of separation of powers, which may be highly 
important in a sovereign government, but which can have 
no possible value in a municipal organization, was never¬ 
theless established and has been retained tenaciously until 
the beginning of the present century. Some structural 
changes were made from time to time, but none of them 
was fundamental nor went to the bottom of the problem of 
what kind of organization the solution of municipal prob¬ 
lems really required. Occasional outbursts of public wrath 
directed against obnoxious personalities in municipal politics, 
occurred from time to time, but without any great per¬ 
manent effect upon the problems of city government. 

In connection with this history of municipal government 
that should be supplied by the teacher, there should be set 
the problem of accounting for the consistent failure of the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


207 


forms of government established, and with that problem the 
question of accounting for the creation of the commission 
form of government. The commission form of govern¬ 
ment was a revolution in the history of American cities, 
not because this represented the last word in city govern¬ 
ment, but because it marked the abandonment of the theory 
of separation of powers, and an effort to find some form 
of city government that was really adapted to the needs of 
the modern city. Where was the first city government by 
commission established? What were the conditions that 
led to its creation ? What were the reasons for this sudden 
departure from the principle of separation of powers that 
had been observed for almost a century? The answer to 
these problems will bring out the tragic events in Galveston, 
Texas, in 1900, the breakdown of the regular government 
under the stress of the flood and the conditions that fol¬ 
lowed, and the effort to create a government that would be 
effective and get things done. We are then ready for the 
questions as to why the system was so widely adopted as it 
was ? What were its elements of strength ? In what ways 
was it superior to the older forms that it supplanted ? 

These questions will develop the fact that so many of the 
modern problems of the city are more businesslike than 
they are governmental in their nature, that a form of or¬ 
ganization more nearly adapted to the needs of business 
administration would be better. Has this form been sup¬ 
planted? What are the latest developments in city gov¬ 
ernment? What is the business manager form of city 
government? How does it differ from the commission plan? 
How has it succeeded? Why did not the earlier forms of 
city government succeed? These and other problems will 
stimulate the student along lines of thought that will have 
a distinct value. The purpose here is, not to introduce a 
technical discussion of the relative merits of the modern 


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forms of city government, which would be too advanced for 
ordinary work in the public schools, but to bring out the 
fundamental principle that the failure of the old forms 
was due to the fact that they were not consciously adopted 
as means to the achievement of definite ends, the solution 
of existing problems. On the other hand, in so far as the 
modern forms have succeeded, it has been because the 
problem was scientifically approached, and a form of gov¬ 
ernment adopted that seemed suited to the ends in view. 
When the public once gets the vision that city government 
is a means to an end, and they set themselves to the .task 
of building machinery that will afford an effective means, 
success has been marked and rapid. 

Moreover, the other fundamental lesson of democracy 
must not be ignored. With the development of the new 
ideas of government, there has developed with it an in¬ 
creasing interest in government and a pleasing growth of 
civic spirit. Without that spirit the new vision and attitude 
toward municipal government would not have come, and 
without the civic awakening the visions would have been 
impotent and sterile. The interrelationships of the moral 
and intellectual requirements of effective citizenship and 
dynamic Americanism ought never to be ignored. 

We come now to the study of city government through 
the consideration of the functions that it performs. While 
the subject of city government in general may be taken up 
through the functional approach with the higher grade 
pupils, the best results are generally obtained by a study 
of the city in which the school is located. If it is desired 
to give some attention to the general subject of city life and 
government, this can best be done after the study of the 
local city, and by way of comparison. The important thing 
is to begin within the range of the pupil’s experience and 
interest, and by the process of his unfolding knowledge 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


209 


and widening experience, bring him to an understanding 
of the forms and mechanics of government that have been 
adopted to perform the functions, with which he is made 
personally familiar. By this method, government becomes 
a vital reality, clothed with human interest, and expressed 
in terms of the pupil's experience. This seems to me to be 
the very essence of education. 

Obviously, the public health is one of the most important 
functions of the city and the one with which we might 
naturally begin. In the discussion of the preceding chapter 
on Rural Life and Government, much was said about the 
health of the community, and how its importance might be 
very graphically brought home to the child. If there are 
such possibilities in rural government, think of how tre¬ 
mendously they are increased in city government, with its 
problems of congestion, and the correspondingly increased 
risks from epidemics and communicable disease. As already 
indicated, in rural communities such matters as the garbage, 
sewerage and water supply may be left with reasonable 
safety to private initiative, but that is not true in the life 
of a city. An infected water supply may involve the health 
of the whole city and involve a tremendous loss of life. 
Mr. Godfrey, in his informing book on city health, cites a 
dramatic example that will bring home the importance of 
the municipal control of water supply in a way that can not 
be soon forgotten. 

“In April, 1885, the town of Plymouth, Pennsylvania, 
contained eight thousand men, women and children. The 
general health was excellent, and the water supply from a 
clear mountain spring far above the town seemed unusually 
good. Like a whirlwind came the plague. Out of that eight 
thousand, eleven hundred and four contracted typhoid fever, 
and one hundred and fourteen died. Rich and poor alike 
were taken, and through every part of the town, highlands 


210 


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as well as lowlands, the fever raged. And this terror came 
from a single case of typhoid brought back from a great 
city whose polluted waters caused the fever. This case 
existed in one of the only two houses that could contaminate 
the water system. From this source came the decimation 
of the little town far below/* 

To-day the efficient city protects the public health, not 
only by fighting the spread of communicable disease, by 
free dispensaries, by the abatement of nuisances, and the 
establishment of free hospitals, for the care of the poor, 
but has advanced beyond these remedies and is concerned 
with the prevention as well as the cure of disease. Doctor 
Lederle, health commissioner of New York, has declared: 
“Every advance in sanitary science goes to strengthen the 
position that the problems of preventable disease and misery 
are largely social problems and must be met and solved by 
collective action on the part of the community/* What some 
of our great cities have been able to accomplish in their 
struggle against preventable disease is illustrated by the 
records of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. 
New York has reduced the death rate per thousand from 
twenty-seven in 1881 to seventeen in 1909. Chicago has 
reduced the rate from twenty-one to fourteen during the 
same period. The Philadelphia rate has fallen from twenty- 
two to seventeen, while that of Boston has gone down from 
twenty-four to eighteen. This record of the city’s triumph 
over death is most encouraging, and brings home in a most 
amazing way the vital relation of city government to the 
interest of every child. And yet New York, which leads the 
country in its generous support of health measures, devotes 
less than two per cent, of its annual appropriations to this 
important work, as compared with five per cent, for fire 
protection, nine per cent, for police, and seventeen per cent, 
for education. What marvelous opportunities will open 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


211 


to the city with the vision and courage to devote a con¬ 
siderable portion of its revenue to the fight against disease ? 
What untold amount of human suffering and heartaches 
could be prevented; what pitiful examples of desolation, 
poverty and discouragement could be avoided; what a con¬ 
tribution to the happiness and well-being of the community 
could be achieved by such a program of municipal accom¬ 
plishment ? 

The vital significance of municipal efficiency is demon¬ 
strated by the comparative statistics of Cleveland and Cin¬ 
cinnati. These two cities have enjoyed the reputation of 
being among the best and the worst governed cities of the 
United States respectively. The average annual death rate 
of Cleveland from 1901 to 1905 was 15.5 while that of Cin¬ 
cinnati for the same period was 19.3. In other words the 
failure of the people of Cincinnati to secure as efficient 
government as that enjoyed by Cleveland caused the death 
of four persons each year in every one thousand of popula¬ 
tion, or the death of twenty persons in every thousand of 
population during the period mentioned. This would mean 
that during that time, two people out of every hundred paid 
with their lives the penalty of inefficient government. Surely 
the possibilities of what municipal authorities may accom¬ 
plish in the saving of life and health affords an adequate 
appeal to the best there is in the boy and girl. They are now 
ready to take up the study of the departments of their own 
city that are vested with the duty to protect the health. 
It is certainly not claiming too much for this method, to 
assert that they will now approach it with a sense of serious¬ 
ness and interest, and with the comprehension that they 
are dealing with an institution that writes its history of 
achievement or failure in terms of life and death. To sup¬ 
pose that they will not develop a more wholesome interest 
in their local government when thus studied, and a corre- 


212 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


sponding increase in their sense of personal accountability, 
seems to me to be a slander upon the nature of the average 
boy and girl. 

A number of years ago a ship became disabled in a great 
storm on Lake Michigan, just off Jackson Park, situated 
on the south side of Chicago. All men aboard had perished 
or been saved, but one, who could be seen clinging to the 
rigging of the disabled ship. Life-saving crews made effort 
after effort to reach the craft which seemed unable much 
longer to withstand the gale. Hundreds and then thousands 
of people gathered along the shore in the cold and wind 
and rain, watching the pathetic figure clinging to the ship. 
They seem rooted to the spot, unable to turn away. What 
was that subtle but resistless force that held them thus 
enthralled? It was a deep and fundamental interest in 
the struggle to save a human life. In every local government 
in the land to-day, forces of progress are waging a never- 
ending battle to salvage human life. The struggle is not so 
dramatic in its setting, but infinitely more dramatic in its 
importance, because of the larger number of persons that 
is involved. Our task, then, is to bring to the knowledge 
and experience of the pupil a vivid understanding of the 
true significance of the proper functions of city government, 
in order that he may see in the conflict for better govern¬ 
ment the gripping drama presented by the struggle over 
human life. 

Another function that should be considered is that of 
providing municipal recreation. This is not merely a ques¬ 
tion of pleasure but one of health, morals and decency. 
The need of recreation and the evils of failure to provide 
for it are convincingly stated by Professor Beard. 

“It is not only the children who suffer under the industrial 
revolution. The adults need recreation just as much, and 
commerce has seized upon this need in a thousand forms. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


213 


Just consider for a moment the position of the typical 
family in the great city: those who are old enough to work, 
often including the mother, and children, are at the factory 
from eight to .twelve hours a day, laboring at machines 
which require intense, application, and continuous nervous 
tension. The home is a cramped tenement, or a small 
wooden house on a dull gray street and with a miserable 
apology for a back yard. These conditions produce a pas¬ 
sion for relaxation—what John Collier calls ‘an emotional 
rebound which makes a desire for pleasure which is almost 
hysterical.’ The flashy ‘white city/ the sensational moving- 
picture show, the ‘unlimited’ dance-hall, the saloon, the 
yellow press—these are the inevitable commercial responses 
to this desire for relief from the intense monotony of urban 
industry and life.” 

In a report to the National Education Association, Mr. 
Hetherington, in speaking of the relation of recreation to 
crime said that “after having studied for two years the 
careers of 480 inmates of a juvenile reformatory, personal 
data indicated that seventy-five per cent, to eighty per cent, 
might have been saved an institutional career had they had 
normal play experience. Social workers agree that the 
‘bad boy’ is largely the product of restricted or misdirected 
play energies. Juvenile delinquency diminishes in districts 
where playgrounds are established.” 

Nor must it be supposed that this is a subject of interest 
only to the larger cities, for there is not a small city in the 
land where children would not be better off physically, 
morally and socially if their spare hours could be filled with 
supervised recreation, where they could learn the ideals of 
the “square deal,” the necessity of team work, the joy of 
full and wholesome living. Space does not permit my go¬ 
ing into the many other important functions of the city, 
but these two classes should suffice to illustrate the principle 
I have in mind. It is through, the functions that city govern¬ 
ment becomes human and real. tracing back the func- 


214 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


tions to the machinery that fulfills them, interest is fastened 
upon the government as the necessary agency for the ac¬ 
complishment of the thing desired. And back of the agency 
lies the people, whose privilege and duty it becomes to see 
that these agencies perform their functions, and that the 
interests of justice and humanity shall prevail. 

If the limitations of time are such that the subject of 
city life and government can not be adequately treated as 
here suggested, the introductory part dealing with the his¬ 
tory of municipal government should be the part omitted, 
in order that full time may be allowed for the functional 
approach. It is here that one is surest of making an effective 
appeal. It is here that the child’s interest can be enlisted, 
and it is here that the virile, instinctive response must be 
secured. It is the study of his own city and its vital prob¬ 
lems that brings to him the definite challenge of a larger, 
nobler citizenship. Then if time remains, the general as¬ 
pects of municipal government and the problems that they 
raise may be profitably considered. 

But as with rural government, so it is with city govern¬ 
ment. There are many problems of fundamental importance 
that are left to individual initiative, and for the solution of 
which individuals must voluntarily contrive. Training for 
citizenship must include an understanding of the importance 
of these voluntary institutions, and an eagerness to partici¬ 
pate fully and effectively in all the organized life of the 
community. What has been said in the chapter on Rural 
Life and Government regarding the church, the Y. M. C. A., 
the civic center, and the various improvement organizations 
applies with equal force to the city. Some of the most not¬ 
able achievements in the realm of municipal government 
have been initiated and worked out through the instrumen¬ 
tality of such organizations, while others have been equally 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


215 


efficacious in aiding citizens to perform their civic duties 
with greater accuracy and efficiency. 

The work done by many local historical associations in 
stimulating interest in the community and its history has 
accomplished much, and teachers frequently can secure 
from such organizations cooperation that will prove both 
stimulating and helpful. Civic art leagues, especially in 
smaller cities, have accomplished much in spreading the 
idea of the city beautiful, in inaugurating “clean up” weeks, 
and in securing the cooperation of the schools in the practi¬ 
cal work of making their own city more beautiful, healthful 
and attractive. The Red Cross, representing the organized 
sympathy of the community, in its splendid mission of 
mercy, affords a most stimulating example of what tre¬ 
mendous results can be secured by voluntary, cooperative 
effort. The various charitable organizations, the chamber 
of commerce, the parent-teachers’ organizations, and similar 
activities should receive consideration, and where possible, 
should secure the cooperation of the school. 

It is frequently desirable to have the representatives of 
the various local organizations appear before the class and 
explain the work in which they are engaged, and permit the 
pupils to ask questions and to become intimately acquainted 
with the ideals and personalities of those in charge. In the 
study of voluntary organizations, as well as in the study of 
government, the functional approach should always be em¬ 
ployed. 

One aspect of civic training in this connection remains 
to be noted and that is what is generally called “civics in 
action.” It is the utilization of the students and their equip¬ 
ment in the public school, for definite community service. 
“Clean up” weeks inaugurated and carried out by school 
children are very common examples. During the threatened 


216 


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food shortage at the beginning of the war, when every effort 
was being made to get those who could to raise their own 
foods as far as possible, the school children in many cities 
were systematically organized and put in charge of gardens. 
One of the most extensive and successful experiments along 
this line was carried out at Two Rivers, Wisconsin, several 
years ago, under the supervision of W. J. Hamilton, at 
that time city school superintendent, and who at the same 
time acted in the capacity of civic secretary for the com¬ 
munity. 

The discussion of pending public problems was always 
carried on in connection with the debating, literary and civics 
work of the school. When essays of unusual merit were 
written, dealing with local problems, the local press carried 
them in the daily paper. Many of the improvements there 
adopted, generally not to be found in a city of that size, 
such as public parks, bathing beaches, and extensive street 
improvements, were initiated by the discussions in the public 
school. If the public became interested, then a public meet¬ 
ing was held in the school where the matter would be dis¬ 
cussed and, perhaps, experts invited to give special informa¬ 
tion. 

The city health department was located in the high 
school, and the class in chemistry assisted in milk inspection 
and the other functions entrusted to that department. The 
closest kind of cooperation was established and maintained 
with the seven important voluntary organizations of the 
city. In some of these organizations, much of the work was 
performed by the children, where it could be correlated 
with their daily tasks. The record of constructive public 
achievement left behind is a profound testimony to the 
possibilities of “civics in action” as a working concept. 
But, doubtless, more important still is the effect upon the 
character and training of the pupil. He was here learning 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


217 


something of the thrill that comes from public service and 
from the devotion of his talents to the public weal. 

Perhaps no single organization is of more importance 
to the direct efficiency of government than such civic organ¬ 
izations as the Municipal Voters’ League, a very excellent 
example of which is found in the city of Chicago. It is the 
function of this organization to gather together all the in¬ 
formation possible regarding the qualifications, experience, 
training, and probable efficiency of the various candidates 
for city council. Frequently there are candidates for city 
office with whom the voter has no acquaintance. Most 
citizens regard themselves as too busy to take the amount 
of time required to make a careful examination of the vari¬ 
ous candidates, and in some cases it would require a great 
deal of effort and exertion. Therefore, a voluntary organ¬ 
ization that can get the confidence of the public, and that 
will give this information to the voter, is performing an al¬ 
most necessary function. But such organizations become 
possible only to the extent that there are men of vision, 
patriotism and leadership, who voluntarily respond to these 
calls of human need. To point out the opportunities, to 
train the pupil to comprehend and appreciate these needs, 
and to develop a dynamic patriotism that will force them 
to respond, is the mission of the teacher. 

The study of municipal life and government affords 
rare opportunities for this tremendous task. Its problems 
appear in dramatic setting. They touch human interest 
and instinctive life at a thousand different points. They 
afford innumerable challenges to the instinct of curiosity. 
Here civics in action has infinite possibilities. To the stu¬ 
dent of city life, dynamic Americanism means more than 
a mere generous emotion; it means a program of definite 
tasks and a plan of concrete individual accomplishment, 
motivated by the resistless appeal to instincts and emotion. 


218 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. A prominent student of city government has declared that “the 
city is the hope of the democracy.” Explain in detail how this may 
be true. 

2. How may the above statement be utilized in developing dy¬ 
namic Americanism in connection with the study of city life and 
government ? 

3. In the teaching of city life and government, would you first 
deal with the origin and development of the forms of city govern¬ 
ment or with the functions of city government? Why? 

4. How may city life and government be utilized to develop new 
afferent inlets into the instinctive life of the child? Be specific in 
your answer. 

5. How may it be utilized to develop and train the efferent aspects 
of the psycho-physical dispostion? Trace this out in detail. 

6. How may the study of city life and government be utilized to 
develop a respect for law ? Give examples. 

7. How far may the general principles of the forms of city gov¬ 
ernment be profitably studied in the public schools? What good re¬ 
sults would you hope to accomplish by it? 

8. In answering the above questions, what considerations should 
govern your decision? How would you determine what phases of 
the subject deserved attention? Be specific. 

9. What practical opportunities does your community afford to 
apply the principle of “civics in action,” and how could such a pro¬ 
gram be best arranged ? 

10. What practical suggestions can you make for the coordination 
of the functions of your city with your work in civics and commu¬ 
nity study? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Hill, Hibbert Winslow, The New Public Health (Macmillan Com¬ 
pany, New York, 1916). 

Pollock, Horatio M., and Morgan, William S., Modern Cities (Funk 

& Wagnalls Company, New York, 1913). 

Howe, Frederick C., The Modern City and Its Problems (Scribner’s, 
New York, 1915). 

Beard, Charles A., American City Government (Century Company, 
New York, 1912). 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


219 


Munro, W. B., The Government of American Cities (Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1912). 

Reed, Thomas H., Form and Functions of American Government 
(World Book Company, Yonkers, N. Y., 1916). 

Part IV, “Local Government.” 

Hart, Albert B., Actual Government (Longmans, Green & Co., New 
York, 1908). 

Chapter XI, “City Governments.” 

Chapter XII, “Problems of City Government.” 

Munro, W. B., The Government of the United States (Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1919). 

Chapter XL, “The American City.” 

Chapter XLI, “Municipal Organization.” 

Chapter XLII, “Municipal Administration.” 

Chapter XLIII, “Commission and City Manager Govern¬ 
ment.” 

Goodnow, F. J., Municipal Government (Century Company, New 
York, 1909). 

Rowe, L. S., Problems of City Government (Appleton, New York, 
1908). 

Where to write for further information: 

National Municipal League, North American Building, Philadel¬ 
phia, Pa. 

National Conference on City Planning, 19 Congress Street, Bos¬ 
ton, Mass. 

National Housing Association, 105 East Twenty-second Street, 
New York City. 

American Civic Association, 913 Union Trust Building, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. 

Playgrounds Association of America, 1 Madison Avenue, New 
York City. 

The American City (published monthly), 93 Nassau Street, New 
York City. 

State Board of Charities. 

Russell Sage Foundation, 105 East Twenty-second Street, New 
York City. 

United States Children’s Bureau, Washington, D. C. 

American National Red Cross, 1624 H Street, Washington, D. C. 
National Conference of Charities and Corrections, 315 Plymouth 
Court, Chicago, Ill. 


CHAPTER IX 


FUNCTIONS AND GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE 

O NE of the most frequent complaints coming from 
teachers of civics is that they have been unable to 
interest their classes in the study of state government. So 
great has been this difficulty that it has not been uncommon 
to see a class in civics which has entirely omitted this im¬ 
portant and fascinating subject. These same teachers fre¬ 
quently succeed splendidly with the federal and local gov¬ 
ernments. The former they find affords more spectacular 
events of interest, and the latter seems to come more within 
the understanding of youth. State government appeals to 
youth as neither spectacular nor intimate. When one con¬ 
siders the tremendous importance of the matters entrusted 
to the states, the importance of the problem here suggested 
will scarcely be denied. The conservation of human life 
in the struggle against industrial disease and accident, the 
conservation of natural resources, the creation and develop¬ 
ment of educational facilities, the development of general 
policies in the interest of public health and pure food and 
drugs, the prevention of child labor, the protection of do¬ 
mestic peace and order, and the creation of adequate ma¬ 
chinery for local government, are but a few of the important 
duties devolving upon the state. 

Perhaps the very difficulty encountered is due to a failure 
to appreciate its fundamental significance. It scarcely seems 
possible that any one who realized the great importance of 
the tremendous functions entrusted to the state, would find 
any difficulty in making the study of that subject one of 
220 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


221 


absorbing interest. Herein lies the difficulty. The teachers 
who seem to have the most difficulty are generally those who 
see in the study of the state, not an analysis of its functions, 
but a description of its framework. To them it is not a vital 
creation with human functions to perform, but a dry and 
uninteresting legal skeleton. In the federal government with 
its spectacular presidential elections and its duties of national 
defense, they find matters of vital interest and appeal. In 
the local governments, with their obviously intimate con¬ 
nection with the lives of all, they are able to awaken some 
interest and response. 

I have no desire whatever to detract from the importance 
and opportunities of local government. I hope they will 
continue to be, to every teacher, increasing sources of in¬ 
valuable material. But it should be remembered that just 
one of the functions of state government is the provision 
and creation of the machinery of local government and the 
assignment to it of its functions. A local government can 
do nothing without the authority of the state, and it has no 
means except those so provided. It is true, that in response 
to the demand for more home rule for cities, some of these 
functions are being delegated in a few states to the people 
of the community, but it is still within the power of the 
state to withhold or grant these powers, and to fix the con¬ 
ditions upon which they may be enjoyed. Moreover, some 
of the most important and vital functions of local govern¬ 
ment consist in the enforcement of the laws enacted by the 
commonwealth. Much of the capacity of the local govern¬ 
ment to serve the people of the community, therefore, de¬ 
pends on the wisdom and efficiency of the lawmaking de¬ 
partment of the state. 

Moreover, in the solution of the fundamental problems 
underlying the conflict between capital and labor, with its 
strikes and lockouts, and its lawlessness and brutality, the 


222 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


commonwealth is concerned with problems of the most 
dramatic possibilities. In the fight against industrial disease, 
with all its horrors and its desolation, and with its infinite 
possibilities of ameliorating human suffering in its most 
horrible and pathetic forms, there is a challenge to red- 
blooded Americanism that can not be ignored. In the 
conflict with industrial monopoly, where the stake is the 
protection of the poor against the pitiless exaction of selfish 
and arbitrary power, there is an appeal to the nobler instincts 
that can not be excelled. These are but a few of the possibil¬ 
ities afforded by the study of the functions and government 
of the state. 

However, in utilizing the functional approach, a word of 
caution may be wise. It has not infrequently happened 
that one has become so enamored with the dramatic possibil¬ 
ities of governmental functions, that one is tempted to ig¬ 
nore entirely the framework and machinery of government. 
No worse mistake in the training of constructive patriotism 
could be imagined. The appeal to the instincts and their 
accompanying emotions is not done as an end in itself. No 
class in civics or Americanism should seek to occupy the 
place of the melodramas or the “movies.” To arouse fine 
emotional thrills without translating them into a program 
of personal accomplishment for the public weal, is nothing 
more than taking one’s class out on an emotional spree. To 
set before them the inspiring spectacle of a great common¬ 
wealth fighting against the forces of greed and power, thus 
arousing the latent forces of patriotic fervor, without direct¬ 
ing them along a definite pathway of concrete achievement, 
is one of the worst forms of a spiritual debauch. 

Unless the functions are traced back to the machinery 
that is charged with their performance; unless the dynamic 
forces aroused within the child are brought to function 
upon the appropriate department as the only means of 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


223 


definite accomplishment; unless the righteous anger and in¬ 
dignation that pour forth from time to time, in a splendid 
stream of resistless power, are directed against the men 
and departments who have failed, the whole idea of dynamic 
Americanism becomes a hollow mockery. The machinery 
of government and the men who are in charge, must stand 
out clear and vivid, in the light of the tremendous functions 
that they perform. Unless this is done the child can not 
learn to apply the doctrine of strict accountability to the 
men in power. He may burn with the fires of patriotic 
desire, but unless he knows the necessary machinery or 
organization through which the desire may be achieved, 
he is impotent and helpless. To arouse the glorious ardor 
and enthusiasm of youth, without directing it into the chan¬ 
nels of definite and concrete service, is a wanton and a 
wicked waste. 

There must, therefore, be a vital and real connection 
between the functions of government and the machinery 
entrusted with their performance. The student must learn 
to think of one in the terms of the other. If he finds that 
vital considerations of public health have been ignored, 
he should not only be trained so that he will see, in his 
imagination, the human suffering that will result, but also 
so that the emotional force aroused by such a vision will 
instinctively be directed against the department and men 
who are concerned. To make our youth susceptible to 
great emotional response, without training its habitual ex¬ 
pression into effective civic achievement, amounts to naught. 
Americanism that does not lead to a sustained and vital 
effort toward the concrete realization of its ideals, is neither 
practical nor worthy. 

At the very outset of this program there are difficulties 
that we must face. The objection will be raised that if 
matters of current and vital interest are discussed, some of 


224 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


them will have political implications of a partisan character, 
and immediately the teacher is in trouble with some irate 
patron. It is useless to dodge the difficulty for it is there. 
A little consideration, however, may help to show that it 
is more apparent than real. There can be no doubt that if 
the teacher ventures upon issues over which political parties 
are contending, trouble is likely to ensue. It is equally 
clear that if a teacher leads in an attack upon some public 
official, because the teacher honestly and sincerely believes 
him unworthy of public office, an unpleasant situation may 
arise. It may also be admitted that if the teacher becomes 
a champion of any of the proposed political reforms, which 
may not be partisan issues at the time, he may find himself 
castigated as a “socialist” by irate patrons who are as re¬ 
actionary as they are stupid, and who call all things “social¬ 
istic” with which they do not personally agree, or which 
they can not understand. 

These are real difficulties that may become serious and 
that no thoughtful teacher will ignore. There are two 
suggestions, therefore, that it is hoped will help very 
materially in the solution of the problem. In the first place 
let the teachers remember that they are not employed to 
teach their hobbies, to defend particular dogmas, or to carry 
on any kind of propaganda, however important may be the 
cause, or sincere its advocate. Whenever these things are 
done, criticism will follow, and in my judgment it ought 
to follow. The purpose of the school and the teacher is 
the education and training of the boy and girl, and not the 
promulgation of disputed doctrines. The teacher is not 
there to do the thinking for the pupils, but to help the pupils 
to think. He is not there to control their conclusions but 
to help them find conclusions that are honest and intelligent, 
the product of evidence and of thought. The province of 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


225 


the teacher is not to dogmatize but to stimulate; not to 
control thought but to develop it. 

If the teacher will stick to the problem method and leave 
the students to discover their own theories, he will be a much 
better teacher, and will be occupying safer ground. Some 
months ago a case came to my attention that affords an ex¬ 
cellent illustration. A teacher of civics in an Indiana high 
school was brought up before the school board for teaching 
socialistic doctrine in the class room. He asked for an in¬ 
vestigation of his teaching. It is true that socialistic con¬ 
ceptions came up for discussion from time to time, because 
there were some boys from socialistic homes in the class. 
When such matters came up he pursued his usual policies 
of suggesting pertinent questions and problems, and then 
left them to the class for discussion and investigation. 
One critic asked him if he permitted socialistic questions, 
and he responded that he could not help it. He was there 
to stimulate and not to repress. Surely the school board 
would not want a boy to be denied the discussion of his 
problems in the class, if they were pertinent. How else 
could the boy get the views of others, learn to think for 
himself, to see the weakness of the socialism he had learned 
at home, and be prepared for the problems of life ? 

The question had come up over a discussion of the mu¬ 
nicipal ownership of a particular public utility, and certain 
boys had come to the conclusion that municipal ownership 
was right, and had startled their parents by so announcing 
their conclusions. But the teacher, being a good teacher, was 
able honestly to assure them that he had never expressed his 
opinion upon the subject, one way or another. All that 
he had sought to do was to encourage the class to study and 
investigate the problem, which at that time was before the 
people of the city for practical determination. Did the 


226 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


school board think it unwise to permit the students to study 
public problems of the community ? Was it the desire of the 
school board that the teacher take a certain position, satis¬ 
factory to the school board, and compel the students to ac¬ 
cept that position? If not, then what more could the 
teacher do, to avoid teaching heresy, than he had done, viz., 
confine his activity to stimulating the pupils to study and dis¬ 
cuss, only insisting that they use honest and efficient meth¬ 
ods? Perhaps the school board was not satisfied with the 
results of its investigation, but it was placed in a position 
where it was necessary to appear satisfied. The position of 
the teacher was impregnable. Perhaps it is interesting to 
note that when the investigation was pending, the members 
of his class, without the suggestion from any one on the 
outside, unanimously signed a petition asking the school 
board to retain the teacher. 

The other suggestion, one of far less importance, is 
that if there are subjects upon which local feeling is so 
high that it may be unwise to deal with them, even by the 
problem method, there are always plenty of other functional 
matters, which at any one time are not matters of such pop¬ 
ular concern, to which the teacher can safely resort. No live 
teacher need ever be in want of ample materials that are 
both safe and effective. 

One other matter should perhaps be noted in this connec¬ 
tion. The employment of either of the suggestions given, 
must not be considered as an evidence of weakening or want 
of moral force. Unfortunately, there are those who confuse 
bigotry with determination, and impudent recklessness with 
daring courage. There are those who prefer to propagate 
their own illusions rather than teach their students to think. 
With monstrous conceit, they conceive of their own theories 
as the great eternal verities of life. They prefer to implant 
these notions in the youthful mind, instead of developing 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


227 


a growing thirst for truth. When such a teacher receives 
the stern rebuke that he so justly earns, he seeks relief in 
the vagaries of self-heroics, and an alibi in the appeal to 
academic freedom. Nor do I wish to belittle the funda¬ 
mental importance of the principle of academic freedom. It 
is one of the very bulwarks upon which a free democracy 
must be founded. But the time has come to deny it as a 
refuge to those who have been its worst abusers. It must 
not become an alibi for intolerable conceit and bigotry. Its 
true disciples will find it not only necessary as a safeguard 
of political liberty, but an invaluable adjunct to successful 
and inspiring teaching. It is in the problem method of ap¬ 
proach, sincerely and honestly conducted, that the real spirit 
of academic freedom reaches its fullest fruitage. 

Coming to the consideration of the functions and govern¬ 
ment of the state, again we should begin with the question, 
“Why?” In the chapter on The Functional Approach, the 
inadequacy of local government and the consequent ne¬ 
cessity of a larger governmental unit was pointed out, prob¬ 
ably, with sufficient fulness. This point should be made very 
clear and obvious to the child, before taking up a detailed 
consideration of the different functions. The line of devel¬ 
opment, begun with the consideration of the necessity of the 
family, together with its rules, organization, and authority, 
as an indispensable means of social progress, should be car¬ 
ried out through the local government, the state government 
and to the national organization. If this is done, there fol¬ 
lows by the most natural methods, a growing conscious¬ 
ness of the whole fabric of our national life. To a student 
so trained, our government never will appear as a weird 
fantastic group of legal technicalities, but as a necessary and 
evolving organism, indispensable to our national existence. 
Such a student will approach the problems of government 
with the true evolutionary point of view, and free from 


228 


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the evils of the static mind. His test of political efficiency 
will not be in the application of inherited dogmatic tests, 
but the standard of efficient service to the national ideals. 

Perhaps one of the most fascinating and important func¬ 
tions of the state is its program for the conservation of hu¬ 
man life. This involves the fight against preventable dis¬ 
ease, industrial disease and accidents, child labor, and the 
constructive programs for safeguarding the health of in¬ 
fants. Here is a group of functions that are of tremendous 
importance to the state, that make an immediate appeal to 
every one who will give them but a moment’s impartial con¬ 
sideration. The reason progress has been slow is that 
most people have failed to realize that in the control of their 
state government these important issues were at stake. It 
seems incredible that the general lassitude and indifference 
frequently prevailing at state elections could be based upon 
any other ground than an utterly inadequate conception of 
the tremendous issues that always are at stake. To develop 
the habit of associating with every state election the im¬ 
portant functions involved, is, then, one of the objects that 
we must keep in mind. 

Consider, for a moment, the work of preventing industrial 
disease and accidents. No civilized country in the world 
renders up such an awful annual toll of human life, and yet 
we are told that half of it can be prevented. By proper in¬ 
spection, the installation of preventative devices, the adop¬ 
tion of adequate safeguards for dangerous machinery, the 
annual toll of accident and disease could be cut in half. This 
very important task is one of the functions of our states. 
Mr. A. C. Reis gives a striking statement of the facts and 
their human implications. 

“For every minute of every day of every year industrial 
accidents send one working man to the hospital or to the 
grave. Our factories annually kill or cripple 225,000; our 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


229 


Tailroads speed by and leave in their trail 94,000 workers, 
dead or maimed; our mines blot out the life or crush the limb 
of 12,000 more. In all, 542,000—men, women, children— 
pay their annual tribute to the machinery of American in¬ 
dustry. 

“Yet industrial accidents are scarcely half of the toll of 
industry. Silent, gaunt, appalling—stands the grim spec¬ 
tre of industrial disease. To-night, in New York City, in 
the cellar of a white lead factory, two Italians are emptying 
copper pans filled with carbonate of lead. They bend close 
over the open vessels, breathing in the fine white particles 
of poisonous dust. The faces of the men are withered 
and ghastly with the pallor of disease, their eyes are sunken 
and dimmed with the blear of growing blindness; their lips 
are parched and blotted with lines and blotches of blue. 
These men—victims of the poison of lead—have worked 
before those pans for only two months. They came eight 
weeks ago—strong, sturdy immigrants from the orange 
groves of Naples. They stand there to-night—in this their 
dreamed-of land of opportunity—doomed to blindness, in¬ 
sanity, paralysis, the agonies of a slow, creeping death. 

“There are ten thousand white lead workers in the United 
States, and white lead manufacture is but one of over a 
hundred different industries in which workmen are menaced 
by the poison of lead. Lead poisoning, morever, is only one 
out of thirty industrial poisons. Arsenic palsy, sulphide 
madness, mercury convulsions—these also lurk in the fac¬ 
tory and in the . mill. Tuberculosis claims 70,000 toilers 
every year. The potter's cough, the grinder’s rot, the cais¬ 
son worker’s chokes—these all add their human toll. Three 
hundred and thirty thousand die each year from industrial 
disease. Unknown thousands drag on—lingering year after 
year—steeped in poverty and despair—their bodies wasting 
—their strength ebbing—waiting, hopeless, for the end. 

“Even this is not all of the toll of industry. The dead, 
the crippled, the diseased—these are but the wage-earners. 
Add to them the fatherless children forced to drop their 
play and stunt their bodies in industry; and the widowed 
mothers driven into drudgery because pinched faces wait 
at the table for bread; add the young orphan girls who may 
be dragged into slavery, because their home is broken up 


230 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


and starvation, haunts their path. To the 400,000 dead; to 
the 500,000 crippled; to the unnumbered thousands racked 
by disease—to them add these millions in misery. Then you 
have the toll of industry. 

“The appalling and yet hopeful part of this story is that 
one-half of this suffering can be prevented. The lives of 
200,000; the limbs of 250,000; the health and happiness of 
millions^—this sacrifice of American industry is needless. 
The accident rate in .American industry is more than twice as 
high as. that in the industries of Europe. The railroads of 
the United States kill three times as many for the same 
number employed as do the railroads of Germany. The 
coal mines of the United States kill from two to nine times 
as many as do those of England, Belgium or France. The 
death rate in American mines, moreover, during the past 
twenty years has trebled, while in every nation of Europe 
it has been cut in half. 

“We need not turn to.Europe to prove that one-half of the 
fatalities in American industry can be prevented. In our 
own Middle West, wherever a conscientious effort has been 
made, industries have checked the reckless waste. The Wis¬ 
consin Steel Company in 1911 reduced its accidents fifty- 
five per .cent, over 1910. The Northwestern Railroad de¬ 
creased its fatalities twenty-seven per cent, last year. The 
Fairbanks-Morse Manufacturing Company at Beloit, Wis¬ 
consin, has reduced its casualties seventy-two per cent, in 
six years. The Illinois Steel Company in 1902 killed or in¬ 
jured. 3,750 men out of every 10,000 employed. Illinois 
Steel in 1912 killed or injured only 890 out of every 10,000 
employed. Its death roll last year was one-fourth of what 
it had been ten years before.” 

Here is a challenge to the citizenship of every state. In¬ 
dividuals may seek to avoid the blame by asserting that 
such matters should receive the voluntary attention of the 
private employer. But this will not suffice. Perhaps some 
blame may be theirs, but in many cases, the competitive sit¬ 
uation makes it impossible for one man to adopt adequate 
inspection and safeguards unless his competitors do the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


231 


same. I have heard manufacturers before legislative com¬ 
mittees pleading for the adoption of legal measures dealing 
with these evils, in order that they might adopt humane 
measures without suffering from the competition of those 
who did not so desire. Nor can one escape the facts 
that these evils are to great extent prevented in Eu¬ 
rope and could be partly prevented in America, if we 
only would. Where, then, is that sense of American chiv¬ 
alry of which we like to think? Are the ideals of our de¬ 
mocracy too high among the clouds to render this practical 
service of saving human limb and life? Can a nation that 
ignores this crying evil have a sincere devotion to the cause 
of justice and humanity? Does an Americanism that tol¬ 
erates these conditions represent the true ideals of our 
democracy? So long as this continues, does not the mark 
of Cain belong on your brow and on mine ? 

The solution of this problem is not so easy as it at first 
may seem. A mere spasmodic outburst of righteous indig¬ 
nation will not suffice. Laws must be carefully drawn by 
expert draftsmen who understand the manufacturing sit¬ 
uation, and the unnecessary conditions that cause accidents 
and disease. The bill must be enacted, and its provisions 
must be enforced by inspectors who are competent, indus¬ 
trious and sincere. The only force that can produce these 
ultimate results is an enlightened public opinion, motivated 
by dynamic forces that can not be stilled, and directed by 
an intelligent understanding that knows when and how to 
act. I do not wish to minimize the difficulties in the way. 
They are real, but not insuperable. To those who will ar¬ 
gue that I ask too much, I answer unless we can develop an 
Americanism that will accomplish this, democracy will fail. 
No government that tolerates such conditions permanently, 
can long endure. 

So far the appeal has been general, but it may be brought 


"232 


’DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


much nearer home. There are few urban communities 
where some factories do not exist. In such communities 
there will likely be children who have friends or relatives 
employed in industrial enterprise. It will not take much 
imagination for them to realize that they have something 
deeply personal at stake. The failure to enact the proper 
law may bring sorrow and poverty to their home. The 
appointment of an incompetent factory inspector may mean 
the crippling of a relative or friend. By this way govern¬ 
ment may be made intimate; personal interest may be en¬ 
listed, and the generous and altruistic emotions may be 
aroused. It is in the marshaling and directing of these fun¬ 
damental forces in definite assaults upon specific evils, that 
Americanism becomes worthy of its name. 

There is another department of state government with its 
attendant functions that I find is frequently overlooked, 
that we should consider here, viz., the state health labora¬ 
tories, found now in almost every state. In Wisconsin, for 
instance, there is a State Laboratory of Hygiene, whose 
function it is to make analysis of all kinds of matters deal¬ 
ing with communicable disease and its causes. This might 
very easily be omitted from a survey of the functions and 
departments of state government, but it would be a very un¬ 
fortunate omission. If a local health board, or the school 
trustee, or the teacher, or some other citizen of the state, 
should fear that the source of water supply is impure, they 
can communicate with the state laboratory, and will receive 
promptly a container with instructions how to take a sample 
of the water and send it in to the laboratory, where it will 
receive a scientific analysis. Those who have had personal 
experience with epidemics of typhoid, can readily under¬ 
stand what such service may mean in terms of the life and 
health of the community. 

About a year ago, in a little country community, an epi- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


233 


demic of diphtheria broke out in the public school, seven 
children taking sick and two dying at the very start. The 
local authorities telegraphed for the assistance of the state 
laboratory and a competent man was sent at once. By sci¬ 
entific tests he determined at once who were the “carriers” 
of the disease and those who were susceptible, and by 
proper segregation and treatment they had the situation un¬ 
der control in two days, without another case or death oc¬ 
curring. 

In another small city of the state the school authorities 
became concerned over the health of the school children, 
and sent to the laboratory for assistance. The director an¬ 
swered the call, and under his suggestion and stimulus, the 
physicians of the community were organized and undertook 
the periodic medical inspection of the children of the pub¬ 
lic school. Many pupils were found unfit to be doing work, 
others in need of operations if they were to develop into 
strong men and women, others in dire need of glasses, and 
still others who were an absolute menace to the school be¬ 
cause of tubercular infection. I need not dwell further 
upon this question, for enough has been said to indicate the 
human importance of this department. Suppose a man were 
placed in this office who had neither the ability nor the 
vision of the possibilities of the work. Hundreds of lives 
annually might lie in the balance, and yet it is doubtful if 
the public would protest. Not because the public is brutal, 
but because it is ignorant of the importance of the office 
and the method of its appointment, and is lacking in the 
imagination and emotional response needed to make effect¬ 
ive protest. 

Another group of functions of vital importance over 
which the state has either direct or ultimate control, is the 
creation of the machinery for the administration of justice, 
and the promulgation of laws and rules for their guidance 


234 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


and control. The delays and expense of justice in our 
courts present a very real and fundamental evil. It is one 
of the causes of popular disrespect for law. A due regard 
for justice demands immediate relief. Former President 
Taft presents one aspect of the evil in the following words: 

“There is no foundation in the attitude of the courts for 
the complaint that the courts are made for the rich, and 
not for the poor; for the judges of this country are as free 
as possible from prejudice of that kind. But the inevitable 
effect of the delays I have referred to is to oppress and put 
at a disadvantage the poor litigant; and while I do not mean 
to say that it is possible, humanly speaking, to put the rich 
and the poor on an exact equality in regard to litigation, it 
certainly is possible to reduce greatly the disadvantages to 
the man of little means, if the courts and legislatures would 
devote themselves to the elimination from the present system 
of those provisions which tend to prolong the time in which 
judicial controversies are disposed of. 

A ... No one can examine the statistics of crime in 
this country and consider the relatively small number of 
prosecutions which have been successful, without realizing 
that the administration of the criminal law is a disgrace to 
our civilization. Some of the causes for the lax admin¬ 
istration of the criminal law may be found in the lenient, 
happy-go-lucky character of the American people, absorbed 
in their own affairs and not fully realizing that this tre¬ 
mendous evil exists in the community.” 

It is true that the problems involved are technical, upon 
which a definite public opinion would be impossible, but the 
evils are obvious, the state legislatures and the courts are 
the ones responsible, and it is possible to arouse a public 
opinion that will demand that those in power shall find a 
remedy for the abuse. Again the problem of creating ad¬ 
equate courts for the poor litigants, the establishment of 
juvenile courts with appropriate powers—all problems of 
the utmost importance to the public weal—are left to the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


235 


discretion of the state. This means that they are left to the 
people of the state, and unless we train the patriotic senti¬ 
ment to function in the terms of these vital problems, they 
never will be solved. 

One of the important by-products of this method of in¬ 
struction is that it will attract attention to the possibilities 
of service by the state to all its citizens. The railroad and 
utility commissions are ready to assist those who are having 
difficulties with carriers or other utilities, and who are not 
able financially to sue them in a court of law. The depart¬ 
ments of agriculture, in many states, stand ready to help the 
farmer solve the technical problems of his business, which 
would otherwise go unsolved or involve the employment of 
an expensive expert. These and many other services the 
modern state supplies its citizens, and the greatest difficulty 
sometimes encountered is to get the people to utilize the 
services that are at hand. 

Approaching the problem of state government from the 
point of view of these and the many other important func¬ 
tions that I have been unable to describe, the total impres¬ 
sion gained must necessarily be a tremendously increased 
appreciation of the importance and significance of a state 
government and its functions. The proper discharge of 
every one of these functions depends at one time or another 
upon the wisdom, sagacity, the patriotism and the com¬ 
mon sense of the three great departments of the state gov¬ 
ernment, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. 
The time is now ripe for a consideration of the general 
state government as a whole. The functional approach to 
the question of separation of powers, which plays a prom¬ 
inent part in the general system of government, has been 
amply discussed in Chapter V. Some time may now prof¬ 
itably be given to the part that these three departments have 
to play in the discharge of the general functions of the state. 


236 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


Unless this is done the citizen may know that something is 
wrong, but he will not know whether to attack the legisla¬ 
ture, or to criticize the executive. Political power, and a 
sincere desire to make its use effective, amount to nothing 
unless one knows the points of contact. Unless he can 
point the accusing finger at the guilty one, and apply po¬ 
litical pressure at the vital point, civic righteousness must 
come to naught. 

Again we must meet the situation that some of the text¬ 
books which one must use, do not contain the material, the 
usage of which is here deemed important. This may in¬ 
crease the difficulties or augment the amount of study to be 
done by the overworked teacher, but it need not necessarily 
defeat the employment of the method. Most books will 
probably give a very good account of state government in 
general, but not make any systematic attempt to describe or 
visualize its important functions. Frequently important de¬ 
tails will be lacking, since the bo6k may be written for gen¬ 
eral use and not for the particular state. This does not 
mean that the books are not usable and very valuable. It 
means merely that the teacher must supplement the con¬ 
tents of the book with his own study of the particular 
state, and his own descriptions of the functions that it per¬ 
forms. The important work of the various departments is 
generally outlined, and the results attained described in 
official reports of the various departments, which are usually 
to be had for the asking. Moreover, there is an undoubted 
advantage in this situation, for those who have the time and 
energy adequately to prepare. The teacher comes to his 
task with a freshness, with a personal interest and zest, that 
comes from having been in personal contact with the prob¬ 
lem studied. There is an absence of artificiality and a sense 
of reality that is very contagious and effective. I under¬ 
stand the heavy duties that are frequently placed upon the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


237 


shoulders of the teacher, already overworked. I shrink 
from suggesting anything that means additional effort, but 
frankness compels me to say that I do not believe the 
average teacher can make the study of social and political 
life and institutions a real and practical success, nor can he 
develop the emotional response and the virile sentiment of 
dynamic Americanism, without thoroughly steeping him¬ 
self in the life and effort of his particular community and 
state. I sincerely hope that the time is not far distant when 
this fact will be recognized and suitable provision made by 
the school authorities of our land. 

Having considered the government as a whole and from 
the point of view of the functions that it performs, we may 
consider the general problems of state government, its his¬ 
toric origins, and its general tendencies. Here we come to 
the problem method again, with some splendid opportunities 
to develop the evolutionary point of view and the habit of 
critical observation. Where did we get the general idea of 
state government that we find exemplified in most of the 
state constitutions? By this time, if the preliminary work 
has been effectively done, the student is on the alert for just 
such problems. He will know that back of it there must be 
some explanation. Did this particular form of government, 
based upon the theory of separation of powers, come as a 
result of the analysis of state problems and a conscious ef¬ 
fort to erect a form of government especially adapted to 
their solution? When did most of the important problems 
arise ? Did they arise before or after the general principles 
of state government had evolved? These questions will 
bring out the fact that the modern functions of state govern¬ 
ment came very largely as a result of the industrial revolu¬ 
tion, which followed rather than preceded the form of gov¬ 
ernment we still retain. 

Then how can we account for the general form now in 


238 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


use ? What precedents were available, if any ? It will not 
take long until some one has discovered that in many funda¬ 
mental respects, the states are patterned largely after the 
federal government. Why should this have been done? 
Why did not the people study out the problem of state gov¬ 
ernment independently of the federal government ? Several 
reasons will, of course, suggest themselves. In the first 
place, the problems of the most importance that confronted 
the people of that day were international and national, 
rather than local. Local problems were not regarded with 
much interest. The federal government, however, for the 
time being, absorbed their attention. It was but natural, 
therefore, for the people, when the time came to adopt their 
state constitutions after the establishment of the federal 
government, to which they had given so much thought and 
attention, to pattern their constitutions largely after the na¬ 
tional one. They had no peculiarly outstanding problems 
at that particular time to divert them from this natural ten¬ 
dency. 

The tracing of the antecedents of the Federal Constitution 
is a subject that properly belongs to the following chapter 
and will therefore not be considered here. There is one im¬ 
portant difference, however, between the state and Federal 
Constitutions which should be noted. The students might 
well be put to the task of discovering any important differ¬ 
ences between the early state constitutions and the Federal 
Constitution. Some one would discover the difference in 
the concentration of power in the president of the United 
States, as distinguished from the decentralization of execu¬ 
tive power between several coordinate and independently 
elected executive officers of the; state, over which the gov¬ 
ernor has no or little power. 

Why should this change have been made? Had experi¬ 
ence demonstrated the failure of centralized power as ex- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


239 


pressed in the Federal Constitution? Were there peculiar 
conditions in the states that seemed to demand such action ? 
The inquiry would probably disclose three explanations, all 
of which doubtless had their influence. In the first place, 
at the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the 
framers were impressed with the necessity of a concentrated 
administrative power, largely because of military reasons, 
and because of the dramatic need of strong executive power, 
demonstrated by the failure of the Articles of Confedera¬ 
tion. When that was adopted and the immediate emergency 
was passed, there was a natural reaction from the extreme 
position taken in the Federal Constitution, and this reaction 
began to occur just about the time the first new constitu¬ 
tions were being formed. 

In the second place, there was not the military need of a 
centralized executive in the state governments, and in the 
third place, the election of the other officers in a state would 
be a much simpler matter in a single state than in the whole 
country. The next question is, has the change been wise? 
Has it produced good results? Which administration, on 
the whole, has been the more efficient, the state or the na¬ 
tion? Has this difference had anything to do with it? 
Some time ago a newspaper in Wisconsin carried the fol¬ 
lowing story: A man in the northern part of the state had 
drawn a large sum of money from the bank one day and was 
returning to his home late at night, his home being located 
on the outskirts of the city. He discovered that he was 
followed by a suspicious-looking character and became 
alarmed. Finally, being convinced that the man was after 
his money, he stopped under an electric light, took the 
money from his pocket, deposited it in an envelope he found 
in his pocket, and then dropped the envelope containing the 
money in the mail box on the corner, and went peacefully 
to his home. The “hold-up” man could easily have broken 


240 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


the mail box and secured the money had he dared. But that 
was a violation of federal law and he did not dare. Appar¬ 
ently, however, he would not have hesitated to have robbed 
the man at the first favorable opportunity, the man being 
protected only by state law. This is not an unusual attitude. 
It is a matter of common observation that many people will 
violate various state regulations of minor importance with 
impunity, but they would hesitate a long while before they 
would violate the postal regulations of the United States. 
Has this condition anything to do with the two methods of 
organizing the executive power ? 

This is a question of more than academic importance since 
one of the reforms now being pressed with vigor in many 
states is the adoption of what is known as the short ballot in 
state government. The advocates of the short ballot point 
to the federal government, and say that its administration 
has been much more efficient because it has been centralized. 
They argue that it is much more popular because if all the 
administrative authority of the government is centralized 
in one man as it is in the presidency, it is much easier for 
the public to fix responsibility for all matters of administra¬ 
tion, and to place the blame, or give the credit, as the case 
may be. Whereas, if the administrative responsibility is 
divided between several different officials, all elected, it is 
very easy for these men to “pass the buck” from man to 
man, and thus evade popular responsibility for their public 
acts. It is answered by the opponents of the short ballot 
that if it is democratic to elect one officer, it must be more 
democratic to elect them all. Moreover, if the appointing 
power is vested in one man, he will abuse it, build up a po¬ 
litical machine and use it for personal or partisan purposes. 

It is not for the teacher to take sides in the controversy, 
but he can render no more useful service than to get the chil¬ 
dren to working on these questions, testing out the argu- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


241 


ments, and hunting for the evidence. This is the kind of 
work where the real power of critical analysis may be de¬ 
veloped, and where the pupil must be impressed that the only 
test worth while is the test of service to the state. Practical 
questions, if not presented until the student is prepared for 
them, and then taken up in the critical spirit, will engage the 
liveliest interest of the student, and frequently call for the 
exercise of the powers of thought and critical analysis that 
might otherwise lie forever dormant. 

Another question should be raised in this connection. 
Have the changes that have taken place in state government 
been carefully studied out with special relation to the char¬ 
acter of problems to be solved? In other words, have the 
makers of our state constitutions always regarded govern¬ 
ment as a means to an end? Or have they, occasionally, 
adopted certain conceptions, not because they contributed to 
the solution of specific problems, but merely because they 
coincided with political prejudice or tradition? This is a 
very vital problem and may be the subject of much profitable 
investigation. 

This thought and investigation may be directed by some 
of the following questions. What has been the character of 
the problems coming before the state government, partic¬ 
ularly since the industrial revolution ? Have they been tech¬ 
nical problems, requiring expert, technical knowledge, such 
as health legislation, quarantine regulations, milk inspection 
tests, simplification of court procedure, methods of safe¬ 
guarding dangerous machinery, selecting the most efficient 
system of sanitary sewage, etc., or have they been broad 
problems of public policy, not requiring special knowledge 
or training, but only involving facts of common knowledge 
and the exercise of common sense, such as the general ques¬ 
tion of prohibition, the issuance of bonds, or the passage of 
a soldiers’ bonus law? Which group of questions presents 


242 


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the most fundamental problems to the commonwealth? Do 
both require the same kind of machinery for their success¬ 
ful solution? 

In recent years there have grown up two apparently con¬ 
flicting tendencies, one a tendency toward more direct de¬ 
mocracy, evidenced by the movement for the initiative, ref¬ 
erendum and recall, and the other toward the development 
of special technical commissions such as industrial commis¬ 
sions, tax commissions, railroad commissions, and state 
boards of health with vastly increased powers. These com¬ 
missions are generally not subject to direct popular control, 
and have wide quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial, and admin¬ 
istrative powers. In matters of legislation within their 
sphere, the legislature generally lays down merely the gen¬ 
eral policy and leaves to the commission the development 
of the technical details. Are these two movements incon¬ 
sistent? If so, which is correct? Which seems to give the 
finest service? May one method of procedure be better in 
one class of cases, and the other method preferable in the 
other ? 

In recent years there has been a very encouraging move¬ 
ment toward the reconstruction of state government. It has 
been contended, whether rightly or wrongly, that state gov¬ 
ernment, on the whole, has not been well organized. It is 
proposed, therefore, to survey the whole field of the needs 
of state government with the idea of developing a frame¬ 
work of government that will be suited to its peculiar func¬ 
tions. Therefore, the questions we have been raising are 
very practical questions. Should these new constitutions 
recognize both the movement toward the more direct democ¬ 
racy and the tendency toward technical commissions? What 
should be the attitude of the intelligent citizens on these 
problems of the future ? It is my profound conviction that 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


243 


by this method of approach, the student will get a clearer 
understanding of the nature and theory of our democracy 
and the method of its organization than he can ever get in 
any other way. The teacher who fails to use the current 
political problems as laboratory material, with those stu¬ 
dents who have completed the preliminary study of the 
functions and purpose of government, is missing an oppor¬ 
tunity to do a splendid and an interesting work. When ap¬ 
proached in this patient and thoroughgoing way, the ca¬ 
pacity of the young student to think intelligently upon these 
problems is frequently astounding. 

I am continually in receipt of letters from persons inter¬ 
ested, asking me for suggestions on a course in “American¬ 
ism”—what it should include, and how it should be taught. 
The tenor of these letters frequently indicates that they look 
upon “Americanism” as some special subject by itself, some 
subdivision of civics, or some special aspect of our national 
life. As I conceive “Americanism” it is not so tangible or 
simple. I conceive it as a complex of many vital but illusive 
factors. It should represent a wealth of generous, emo¬ 
tional power, trained to instant response to every cause 
where justice, decency and humanity are involved; it should 
include an intimate and sympathetic outlook that can com¬ 
prehend the varied factors of our national life; and, finally, 
it should include those qualities of moral and intellectual 
vigor that can fuse this emotional power, this intimate 
knowledge, and this point of view into a resistless, sustained 
and determined force, that can translate the ideals and the 
aspirations of American democracy into the constructive 
statesmanship of accomplished fact. In the life and char¬ 
acter of Abraham Lincoln I think we find the embodiment 
of this ideal. The development of this complex sentiment 
is not easy but it is worth while. It is not simple, but to the 


244 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


extent that we attain it, it is eminently practical. In seek¬ 
ing it we may not get far, but surely it is in the direction 
that we ought to go. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. How can the interest aroused in local life and government be 
carried over and utilized most naturally, in the study of state func¬ 
tions and government? 

2. Explain the practical importance of covering both the function 
and the framework of government? What evils follow from the 
study of functions alone and what evils result from ignoring them 
entirely? 

3. How may state government and functions be utilized to de¬ 
velop the afferent aspects of the psycho-physical disposition? Illus¬ 
trate definitely. 

4. Illustrate the development of the efferent aspects of the psycho¬ 
physical disposition through the study of state functions and gov¬ 
ernments. 

5. What opportunities does the study of state government and 
functions afford for the development of habits of critical observa¬ 
tion? 

6. Is it practical and desirable to consider current issues in con¬ 
nection with the class-room work? What are the dangers and how 
may they be avoided ? 

7. Would a mock state constitutional convention be a good way to 
study the general framework of state government? Should it pre¬ 
cede or follow the discussions of state functions? 

8. What state departments, not mentioned in the chapter, can you 
suggest that have functions that would be useful in bringing home 
the importance of state government? 

9. Is a mock state legislature a good device with which to interest 
the students in the legislative problems of state government? What 
phases could be best handled by this method ? 

10. What reports, publications and state documents are issued by 
your state which would be useful in the study of state functions and 
government ? 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


24S 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Childs, Richard S., Short Ballot Principles (Houghton, Mifflin Com¬ 
pany, Boston, 1911). 

Bryce, James, American Commonwealth (Macmillan Company, New 
York, 1907). 

Volume I, Part II, “The State Governments.” 

Beard, Charles A., Readings in American Government and Politics 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1913). 

Part III, “State Governments.” 

Reed, Thomas H., Form and Functions of American Government 
(World Book Company, Yonkers, N. Y., 1916). 

Part III, “State Government.” 

Smith, John F., Our Neighborhood (The John C. Winston Com¬ 
pany, Philadelphia, 1918). 

Mathews, John M., Principles of American State Administration 
(Appleton, New York, 1917). 

Hart, Albert B., Actual Government (Longmans, Green & Co., New 
York, 1908). 

Part III, “State Government in Action.” 

Chapter X, “General Welfare.” 

Munro, W. B., The Government of the United States (Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1919). 

Chapter XXVII, “The Place of the State in the Nation.” 
Chapter XXVIII, “The State Constitutions.” 

Chapter XXIX, “The State Legislature.” 

Chapter XXXI, “State Administration.” 

Chapter XXXII, “State Finance.” 

Chapter XXXIV, “The State Courts.” 

Chapter XXXV, “Direct Legislation and Recall.” 

Chapter XXXVI, “The Reconstruction of State Government.” 
Young, James T., The New American Government and Its Work 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1915). 

Chapter XVI, “The State Government. The Constitution.” 
“The State, Continued. The Executive, Legislative and 
Courts.” 

Chapter XVIII, “The State and Its Work. Business Pro¬ 
tection and Regulation.” 

Chapter XIX, “The State, Continued. Labor.” 

Chapter XX, “The State, Continued. The State and Educa-i 
tion.” 


246 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


Chapter XXI, “The State, Continued. Health, Charities and 
Correction.” 

Chapter XXII, “The State, Continued. Highways and 
Finances.” 

Chapter XXIII, “Constitutional Protection of Business and 
Personal Rights, Safeguards of Individuals and Corpora¬ 
tions.” 

Chapter XXIV, “Constitutional Protection, Continued. The 
Police Power.” 

Chapter XXV, “Constitutional Protection, Continued. Taxa¬ 
tion.” 

Beard, C. A., American Government and Politics (Macmillan Com¬ 
pany, New York, 1914). 

Part III, “State Government.” 

Holcombe, A. N., State Government in the United States (Mac¬ 
millan Company, New York). 

Reinsch, P. S., Readings on American State Government (Ginn & 
Co., Boston, 1911). 

Dealey, J. Q., Growth of American State Constitutions (Ginn & Co., 
Boston, 1915). 

Where to write for further information: 

United States Public Health Service, Washington, D. C. 

State Board of Health. 

City Board of Health. 

Local Health Officers. 

American Medical Association, 535 North Dearborn Street, Chi¬ 
cago, Ill. 

American Public Health Association, 755 Boylston Street, Bos¬ 
ton, Mass. 

American Association for Labor Legislation (for Health in Fac¬ 
tories), 131 East Twenty-third Street, New York City. 
American Prison Association, Secretary-Commissioner of Chari¬ 
ties and Correction, Trenton, N. J. 

National Conference of Charities and Correction, 315 Plymouth 
Court, Chicago, Ill. 


CHAPTER X 


FEDERAL FUNCTIONS AND GOVERNMENT 

HE spectacular aspects of the federal government, to¬ 



gether with its functions of war and foreign policy. 


have given its study a zest and interest that most teachers 
have not failed to seize. With the idea of the federal govern¬ 
ment, one instinctively tends to identify the interesting 
struggles of presidential elections, or its more dramatic ex¬ 
ploits of martial glory. It is in connection with the federal 
government mainly that one experiences the thrills of patri¬ 
otic fervor. Its history leads us inevitably to the thought 
of war. It suggests at once the battles of Concord and 
Lexington, the heroism of Valley Forge, the gallantry of 
Gettysburg and Chickamauga, the brilliant accomplishments 
of San Juan and Manila Bay and the deathless valor of 
Chateau Thierry and Belleau Wood. 

No imagination is required to bring home to youthful 
consciousness the tragedy and importance of these historic 
struggles. The emotional response is immediate and pro¬ 
found. It is under the stimuli of such dramatic incidents 
that our nation’s youth, from generation to generation, have 
learned the lessons of military duty. It is here that they have 
learned the glory of martial sacrifice. The patriotic and 
self-regarding sentiments have been so molded and de¬ 
veloped, they have become so intimate and vital in youthful 
consciousness that to-day the average man prefers death 
to the disgrace and loss of self-respect that would follow a 
neglect of military duty. And this is splendid. It is neces¬ 
sary to the life of a nation in a war-ruled world. But it 


247 


248 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


has its tragic aspects. So self-evident and obvious is the call 
of militant patriotism, so irresistible is its appeal, so exhil¬ 
arating and magnificent is the feeling that accompanies the 
response to it, that all other forms of patriotic effort and 
civic duty have been ignored. 

As previously suggested, our people will watch the prog¬ 
ress of mob law in America, with its annual toll of brutally 
murdered victims, with incredible equanimity. We can 
even contemplate the failure of civil government and the 
temporary inauguration of military rule, in the course of 
industrial conflict, with an indifference that is astonishing. 
But like outrages in neighboring republics, if they happen 
to fall upon American citizens, will rightfully arouse the 
wrath of an impatient public. A citizen may be butchered 
by a lawless mob in America, and it will receive but scant at¬ 
tention in the nation's press. But let this same man cross 
the border and do the same act, and receive the same treat¬ 
ment at alien hands, and our entire nation will be aroused. 

And yet for America, with her superior advantages and 
her highly-developed institutions, to tolerate such a crime 
is a greater offense against humanity and civilization, than 
the similar conduct of a less fortunate and weaker neigh¬ 
bor. I have no word of apology for Mexico. I have no 
word of censure for those who urge that the influence of 
this great republic should be used in every proper and law¬ 
ful way to protect our citizens against the lawlessness of 
others. What I desire to urge is that a patriotism that is 
directed against the evil-doing of others and ignores the de¬ 
linquencies of ourselves; that is aroused by the violation of 
our national honor by foreigners, but is indifferent to its 
spoliation by those at home; that can sacrifice unselfishly 
and die nobly to protect the lives of Americans from alien 
foes, but can watch their destruction by domestic negligence 
;with relative indifference—such a patriotism, noble and in- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


249 


valuable as it surely is, is not adequate to the needs of 
to-day, nor in harmony with the profoundest ideals and 
aspirations of our democracy. 

As I write, the nation faces a famine of most threatening 
proportions. The coal miners and the operators have been 
unable to agree. The miners have struck. The operators 
have offered a wage increase which it is contended will cover 
the increase in the cost of living. The miners denied the 
justice of the offer and refused to return to work. Under 
the terms of the Lever Act, an injunction had been issued 
against the strike, but with the formal withdrawal of the 
strike order, the miners did not return. In the meanwhile 
the situation has become desperate. Factories are forced 
to close and men are left without employment. Local sup¬ 
plies of coal are rapidly decreasing, and millions of poor, 
who buy their coal in small quantities, are not only facing 
idleness with the close of factories, but cold and cheerless 
homes. But a few weeks more of these conditions and 
actual famine and hunger will reap their harvest of death 
and desolation. 

Why must these things be ? Must our government admit 
its impotence in the face of such a crisis ? Is our democracy 
incompetent to grapple with the situation? Must the na¬ 
tion that amazed the world with its organizing genius, its 
resistless spirit and its incomparable military accomplish¬ 
ments against foreign foes, admit its incompetence in deal¬ 
ing with domestic problems ? Doubtless, in time, the emer¬ 
gency will be met. Some way we will “muddle through,” 
and the country will be spared the worst of the perils thaf 
seem now to confront us. But in the meanwhile great suffer¬ 
ing will have occurred. This will be accepted with equa¬ 
nimity, and the country will settle down again, none the 
wiser or more efficient, for its experience. 

What is wrong? Why was the present situation allowed 


250 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


to develop, until the crisis was upon us? Why have the 
government and the public been content with a situation 
that made possible, yes, inevitable, just the kind of struggle 
through which we now are passing? This goes to the very 
root of the problem. The answer is found in the public 
indifference to the issues that are involved, an indifference 
that does not disappear until the public begins to feel the 
pinch of want. If our citizens were equipped with a dy¬ 
namic, patriotic sentiment that responds as quickly to the 
menace of domestic ills as it did to the threats of foreign 
foes, the present crisis, in its present form, never would 
have occurred. 

Such a patriotic sentiment would have demanded prompt 
and adequate attention and consideration, both to the de¬ 
mands of labor and the interests of capital, not merely in a 
tardy spirit of self-defense, but in a spirit of justice and 
fair play. Such a sentiment might have demanded an im¬ 
partial investigation, a fair hearing, and a just and proper 
settlement, before the conflict had reached the stage of 
irreconcilable bitterness. Neither side would dare refuse 
a settlement so arranged. Behind it would be organized the 
resistless power of public sentiment, as virile, as dynamic 
and as overwhelming as the sentiment that organized our 
Resources and triumphed over our foes. However much 
either side might wish to avoid the settlement, it would 
scarcely dare to defy a public sentiment so powerful and 
impelling. 

* This, again, raises the question of whether such a senti¬ 
ment may be developed. Are war and foreign affairs the 
only objects around which we can organize the sentiment 
of patriotism? Is it only when injustice is done by 
foreign foes that humanity will yield its most vigorous 
response? Is it only the heroism of war, the tragedy of 
battle, or the stimulus of martial conflict that can afford an 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


251 


adequate response? Perhaps the tragedies of peace, in¬ 
juries by internal foes, and appeals for domestic justice 
may not produce an emotional response so effectively as war. 
We have not yet the experience upon which to base a satis¬ 
factory answer. Certain it is that in general it never has 
been done. It is equally certain that it has been rarely tried. 
The thing for which I plead is to give it a searching and 
thorough trial. Its potential importance to democracy, and 
its vital necessity to the strength and future of our nation, 
surely afford ample warrant for the effort. 

Whether or not the patriotism of peace may be made as 
virile and effective as the patriotism of war, there can be 
but little doubt that great and needed improvement 
can be achieved. In the brief analysis of some of the social 
instincts and emotions attempted in Chapter II, we found 
nothing to indicate that the tragic and human aspects of 
our domestic life would not afford the basis of an adequate 
appeal, if it were set forth in its vital naked significance. 
Nor does there seem to be any inherent reason why the 
efferent aspect of the instinctive organization could not 
be trained to respond in terms of civic achievement as well 
as in terms of military duty. 

The problem, then, concretely presented by the study of 
the federal government and functions, as well as by the 
study of all other phases of civics, is one of so analyzing 
and describing the functions of the federal government, 
that its deeply human and dramatic aspects will make a deep 
and profound appeal to the social instincts. The thrill of 
joy that comes from a generous response to emotional ex¬ 
citement, when aroused in a noble cause, must be brought 
home with a vivid sense of its reality. The relations be¬ 
tween the individual and the functions of government, the 
ways and means of making his ideals and his beliefs a vital 
force in the performance of those functions, must be made 


252 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


clear, specific and intelligible, in order that the emotional 
power may not be wasted, but become articulate and effec¬ 
tive. And this requires, not only the development and 
training of a rich emotional response, in both its afferent 
and efferent aspects, but the intellectual capacity of analysis, 
a passionate love of truth, a keenly developed instinct of 
curiosity, and an evolutionary point of view that sees in 
government the human agencies through which the divine 
destinies of humanity are ultimately to be achieved. For 
the most splendid emotional life conceivable becomes im¬ 
potent if not vicious when misdirected by ignorance, bigotry 
or selfishness, or when it does not find its ultimate expression 
in constructive service. 

With this restatement of our general problem, we are 
ready to try its solution in relation to the opportunities 
afforded by the federal government. The first question that 
would naturally present itself is, why have a federal govern¬ 
ment? Why were not the state governments sufficient? 
Why is not the imposition of the national government a 
useless burden, an extravagant expense, an unnecessary 
complication, and a very material interference with the 
independence and sovereignty of the states? These ques¬ 
tions, while their answers may be obvious to the teacher, 
present some very real difficulties, and involve some very 
fundamental principles, with which every pupil should be 
familiar. And unless they are presented to him in this way, 
they may never be adequately comprehended. The general 
question of the reasons for the establishment of a federal 
government have been already dealt with, with sufficient ful¬ 
ness in previous chapters. The conception of government 
as a means to an end, the value of cooperation between 
states as well as between individuals, the principle of federal¬ 
ism, the idea that a state in surrendering certain important 
and vital rights may thereby obtain greater security for its 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


253 


most important interests, are all fundamental ideas which 
can be brought home with vividness and conviction, when 
the causes for the formation of the union are carefully 
traced and their nature analyzed. And yet there are many 
prominent men to-day whose public utterances amply demon¬ 
strate a fundamental ignorance of these simple and ele¬ 
mentary principles. They perhaps may be cognizant of 
them, but they play no part in their intellectual life. 

The understanding of these principles and this important 
part of our history is a matter of considerable practical 
importance. One of the obvious tendencies of the day is to 
give over more and more functions to the federal govern¬ 
ment at the cost of the state government. Many think this 
a very dangerous custom. Undoubtedly it may be carried 
too far. But how shall this question be determined ? Some 
people, disgusted with the inability of the state governments 
to enforce the law, seek to throw the burden upon the 
more efficient federal government, rather than by trying to 
bring the state government to the same degree of efficiency. 
This is both unstatesmanlike and cowardly. Remembering 
that government is a means to an end, the only solution to 
the problem is to determine in each case, whether the ques¬ 
tion is by its nature more suitable to a single body of regu¬ 
lations uniform and fixed throughout the nation, without 
regard to local differences in conditions or public opinion, 
or whether its adequate treatment would necessarily depend 
upon conditions that differed materially among the several 
states. Obviously this question will only be intelligently 
met after a most painstaking survey of the problem, and an 
analysis of the material factors and conditions in the differ¬ 
ent states. 

And yet when the question comes to-day, as it does oc¬ 
casionally, most people and statesmen divide, not upon the 
fundamental question I have indicated, but upon the pe- 


254 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


dantic theory that they believe in “state rights” or in the 
centralization of power. A few years ago it was suggested 
that all corporations engaged in interstate commerce be 
compelled to take out a federal license or a federal charter. 
In the public discussion that followed, there was very little 
said that had any possible connection with the real merits 
of the question, most people lining up in accordance with 
whether they inherited a prejudice for the formula of 
“states’ rights” or of a strong centralized government. 
Thus we see again the tyranny of an established phrase. 
We see great public questions turn upon their compliance 
with trite unmeaning concepts. We see progress again 
sacrificed to the narrowness, the bigotry and the stupidity 
of the static mind. If our knowledge of our government 
and its theories had been obtained through the functional 
approach, if our understanding of the relative functions 
of the state and federal government, as worked out and 
developed by the fathers, had been secured through the 
careful analysis of the needs, conditions and functions of 
the two, it can not be doubted that such problems would be 
approached more in the spirit of reality than in the present 
attitude of prejudice and dogmatism. 

The intelligent teaching of the federal government would 
involve the solution of the problem of the division of powers 
between the state and federal government. This would 
require a careful analysis of the economic and political con¬ 
ditions that then prevailed, and a tracing of the methods 
and intellectual struggle through which the framers of our 
fundamental law sought to solve the problem for their day 
and generation. No student could go through the records 
of those stirring and heroic times without having the prin¬ 
ciples involved indelibly impressed upon his consciousness. 
To do less than this is to squander a priceless opportunity. 

Moreover, the student who is directed through this fas- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


255 


cinating and wealthy field of constitutional and political 
history, is prepared to grasp the real meaning and signifi¬ 
cance of the issues of nullification and secession that cul¬ 
minated in the Civil War. The student who has traced that 
great conflict through all its phases in the constitutional 
convention, who has traced its discussion in the light of 
the terrible and destructive conditions prevailing under the 
Articles of Confederation, will not fail to comprehend fully 
the grim menace of secession. He will not be misled by 
the issue of slavery, but will understand that the very life 
of popular government was at stake. 

Another fundamental conception of contemporary im¬ 
portance, which is dramatically illustrated by the history 
of the constitutional convention, is the practical value and 
nature of cooperative undertakings in which a political body 
may sacrifice a portion of its sovereignty in order to obtain 
a larger degree of security. The sovereignty of the states 
was a conception that threatened the whole enterprise of 
the constitutional convention and its work. It had been 
this theory that made the government under the Articles 
of Confederation a dismal failure. As observed in a 
previous chapter, the final adoption of the Constitution 
was finally secured, not as an act of national altruism, but 
as a necessary means of security for the freedom of the 
state. The fathers were practical men. By an analysis 
of conditions they found that certain interests the states 
held in common. They found that the protection of these 
interests could be better provided jointly, than individually. 
These matters they delegated to the national government, 
retaining all others for the states. It is true it involved 
grave departures from the rights and prerogatives of the 
states. But it is equally true that in the surrender of these 
interests they found a peace and freedom that was infinitely 
more secure. 


256 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


To a very large extent these are the same principles in¬ 
volved in the proposed league of nations. And yet how 
much of the popular discussion has been in terms of funda¬ 
mental principles ? Many of its enemies have gone but little 
further than to assert the obvious fact that the league of 
nations will impose some restrictions upon the sovereign 
will of the United States. A man prominent in public life, 
a member of the Senate, has declared in public address 
that he could never vote for “any scheme that would impose 
upon the sovereign will of America, any degree of legal 
restraint.” The unfortunate thing is that similar state¬ 
ments have been loudly applauded in popular audience, and 
received wide editorial approval among the press. And yet 
nothing could be more misleading nor pernicious. Every 
principle of international law which America has helped to 
form, and which she has sought to defend in battle, imposes 
a legal restraint upon our national will. Every treaty that 
we have entered, every international engagement to which 
we are a party, imposes some restraints. It is one of the 
glories of our nation that we have consistently accepted 
these restraints as legitimate and binding. And the most 
damning evidence against the Imperial German Govern¬ 
ment has been her unwillingness to recognize any legal re¬ 
straint upon her “sovereign will.” The very essence of 
Prussianism is found in its insistence that the national will 
shall suffer no restraint. I do not mean to imply that the 
press and people who use or approve the argument suggested 
are guilty of Prussianism, but that in their thoughtlessness 
they have seized a phrase because it had the rhythmic ca¬ 
dence and heroics that would serve their needs, without 
examining its significance, or ascertaining its pertinency. 

Likewise some of the defenders of the league of nations, 
instead of resorting to constructive statesmanship, based 
their case upon the easy-going assumptions of a sentimental 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


257 ; 

internationalism. They simply assumed that all humanity 
was united in common interests, and that the world state 
or any other form of international organization was a neces¬ 
sary step in the right direction. They regarded nationalism 
as an inherent peril, no longer of legitimate value. They 
blissfully ignored the fact that intelligent nationalism might 
be a tremendously effective social force, and the very foun¬ 
dation upon which any international organization must be 
builded. A man’s intelligent devotion to his wife and family 
does not prevent him from being a good citizen of his 
country. He need not be equally attentive and devoted to 
all wives in order to show the spirit of democracy, and a 
lack of narrow selfishness. In fact, the more devoted he is 
to his own family, the more he is likely to be devoted to the 
nation that protects it. 

Likewise, in order to be the broadest kind of a humani¬ 
tarian with a world outlook, and eager to serve humanity, 
one need not sacrifice the dynamic forces of intelligent 
nationalism nor forget the sound maxim that “charity begins 
at home.” The internationalism that lives upon a senti¬ 
mental interest in all humanity, at the cost of one’s devotion 
to the country where he lives, is neither practical nor en¬ 
nobling. Any successful scheme of international organiza¬ 
tion must rest upon the enlightened self-interest of the 
nations that compose it. Its strength will depend upon the 
strength of these nations and its capacity to serve them. 
If these nations are not enjoying a wholesome, vigorous 
and intelligent nationalism how, then, can they provide the 
basis for a league of nations that will endure ? 

As long as the discussion is carried on in the terms of 
these glittering generalities against impairing sovereignty 
or in favor of internationalism, no substantial progress 
toward the constructive solution of the problem can be 
secured. If we approach it as the best minds in the consti- 


258 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


tutional convention grappled with it, we shall find the basis 
of intelligent discussion. They began with strict ideas of 
state sovereignty. But experience had taught them that the 
several states had certain interests in common; that these 
interests could be better served by the common effort, acting 
through an independent government that represented all; 
and, that, while the loss of state sovereignty over the specific 
things entrusted to the general government was unfortunate, 
it was far more than offset by the added security obtained. 
Thus the federal government was created, not in an effort 
to discard state governments, but in order the better to pro¬ 
tect them. 

Applying this method of procedure to the question pre¬ 
sented by the league of nations, we come to the following 
questions: Do the great nations of the world have certain 
interests in common? Can these interests be better served 
through such an international organization as the league of 
nations ? Is the value of such service to the nation sufficient 
to offset the restraints upon national action that are as¬ 
sumed? It is obvious that the answer to these questions 
goes to the basis of the matter. That there are some inter¬ 
ests we have in common with the other nations of the world, 
where the advantages of joint control obviously offset the 
loss of freedom of national action, is amply demonstrated 
by the adherence of America to such international arrange¬ 
ments as the Universal Postal Union, Universal Telegraph 
Union, the various Hague conventions, and the Algiciras 
Act. Are the matters which we propose to leave to the 
league of nations of this character? Are the new liabilities 
that we assume, and the loss of liberty of action in certain 
matters that we suffer, compensated for by the additional 
security and services that we secure? It is inevitable that 
there should be all degrees of opinion. Those who sincerely 
and intelligently advocate reservations do so because they 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


259 


believe that the particular things they desire to reserve 
from the jurisdiction of the league, are either not such 
matters of common interest as could be better protected 
by joint action than by individual endeavor, or that the 
machinery devised is not adequate to the burdens assumed, 
or that the restraints and liabilities assumed in regard to 
certain things are greater than the expected benefits. 

When public discussion and investigation becomes cen¬ 
tered upon these specific problems, then there is hope for 
genuine progress toward their ultimate solution. This does 
not mean that the great project is to be robbed of its appeal 
to the idealistic. However selfish may be the motives that 
bring nations together in the common effort to solve the 
great problems of the world, their efforts toward an 
achievement of such tremendous import to humanity pre¬ 
sent an ennobling and inspiring spectacle. The enlightened 
selfishness of intelligent nationalism that prompts the move¬ 
ment for greater cooperation and less destructive competi¬ 
tion among the nations of the world, is one of the most 
beneficent influences of to-day. Its selfishness is of the 
same kind that leads intelligent men to support the cause 
of organized society, and that led the thirteen belligerent 
and jealous colonies to create a powerful and enduring 
nation. It is rooted in a profound conception of the realities 
of life and in the fundamental understanding that restraint 
is essential to cooperation, whether in the home, the nation, 
or the world, and that cooperation is indispensable to prog¬ 
ress. 

If the study of the creation of the Federal Constitution 
can be made another opportunity to drive home, with re¬ 
sistless logic, an understanding of the real nature, purpose 
and function of government and law; if it can be made the 
occasion to re-emphasize the fact that the restraints of law 
are but the requisites of cooperative effort, and that the 


260 


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test of such effort is to be found in the results actually 
achieved, a great step will have been taken in preparing 
our youth for the civic duties that lie ahead. If these con¬ 
ceptions can be illustrated by application to the problems 
of the day, they gain in reality and interest to the student 
as he gains in ability to utilize them in the practical prob¬ 
lems that confront him. 

Coming now to the functions of the federal government, 
the one that most persons think of, is that of national de¬ 
fense. It is in this connection that most persons have had 
their attention drawn to the federal government, and it is 
in response to the call of the nation for purposes of defense, 
that patriotic sacrifice has reached its greatest heights. I do 
not want to belittle this splendid sacrifice. The generous 
ardor with which the young men of America responded to 
the call of arms is one of the most sublime spectacles that 
history can afford. I glory in the matchless record of 
gallantry, heroism and self-sacrifice. I glory in the proud, 
heroic and gigantic achievements of our people in the hour 
of need. The wave of patriotic sentiment that swept our 
country and made us one people with one purpose, and 
mobilized behind that purpose the spiritual and material 
resources of the land, was the most powerful, resistless 
force that America has known. And its importance to the 
cause of the nation and humanity was as great as its re¬ 
sistless power. 

This sentiment of militant patriotism we must continue 
to nourish and develop. The point I want to emphasize 
again and again is that such a sentiment alone is not enough. 
There has been a tendency on the part of some who have 
felt the inadequacy of such a sentiment, to question its im¬ 
portance and to impugn its fundamental value. Such a 
point of view will not bear critical analysis. We need all 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


261 


of the militant patriotism that we can develop. Let none 
of it be sacrificed! What we do need is to supplement it 
with an equally virile patriotism of peace. What we need 
to do is to show that the conflicts waged by government 
against injustice, poverty, disease, accidents and ignorance, 
are fraught with a vital significance to mankind, and that 
questions of national honor are broader than the problems 
of diplomacy and involve the just defense of justice and 
decency at home as well as the defense of our interests 
abroad. The military functions of the government should 
not be ignored, therefore, but should be used to develop 
the sentiment of militant patriotism and to show the need 
of a similar sentiment, directed at the problems of peace. 

Closely allied to the functions of defense is the matter of 
foreign policy, where the appeal to the heroic may be almost 
equally effective because of its close relation to the problem 
of defense. That America is destined to play a larger part 
in the destinies of the world, no one will deny. We may 
regret it. We may wish to retain our traditional isolation, 
but we can not. Our commerce is found on every sea. 
Our shipping goes into every port. Every nation is to-day a 
competitor for the markets of the world. If a nation loses 
its fair share of commerce, its greatness will begin to dis¬ 
appear. It is, therefore, a struggle for life or death. In 
this mighty struggle we must play our part. We have de¬ 
clared that we have a definite interest in the “open door” 
in China. We have declared that we have a vital interest 
in the freedom of American republics from external aggres¬ 
sion. We have acquired islands on the far side of the 
Pacific. Because of a controversy between Austria and 
Serbia which could not be peaceably adjusted, events fol¬ 
lowed which forced America into the greatest war in history. 
In the face of these facts, our talk of isolation becomes little 


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more than misleading and alluring fiction. To this extent 
the subject of foreign policy and diplomacy becomes a mat¬ 
ter of just concern. 

But the ignorance of the American public regarding 
world politics and questions of foreign policy is proverbial. 
Popular audiences will declare their willingness to sacrifice 
their lives in defense of the Monroe Doctrine and yet they 
could neither accurately state its principles nor construct 
an argument in its defense. It becomes necessary, there¬ 
fore, in the training of citizenship to arouse enlightened 
interest &nd intelligent appreciation of these important 
problems. Why have a foreign policy at all? Why have 
the Monroe Doctrine? Why not abandon it as some have 
urged ? What good has it accomplished ? These and simi¬ 
lar problems should be set the students in order that their 
interest may be stimulated, and they can comprehend the 
real necessity of a definite policy. Perhaps a good method 
of approach would be the question of neighborhood courtesy 
and good manners. It is easy to see why it is wise for each 
person in a community to have a fixed habit or policy of 
politeness and consideration for his neighbors. If one’s 
neighbor is very ill next door, one has the right to make all 
the noise he desires in his own home, as long as he does not 
create a nuisance, although it means the distress and injury 
of the sick. One may refuse to speak to his acquaintances 
or to return civil and kindly greetings, without violating 
any legal right. One may refuse to clean up the unsightly 
condition of his yard, provided it be not dangerous or un¬ 
healthy, even though it be an eye-sore to the whole com¬ 
munity, and still be within the law. But it is very rarely 
that we find a person who follows such a policy. If he did 
he would be constantly developing friction and misunder¬ 
standings, would find people unwilling to cooperate with 
him, and would make himself the object of general hostility 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


263 


land dislike. Most intelligent people, as a matter of policy 
and decency, exercise a reasonable regard for the welfare 
of their neighbors, although not required to do so as a 
matter of law. 

They follow this policy because it is pleasant, profitable, 
and avoids much unpleasantness and friction. They do not 
do anything that affects their neighbors that they would not 
want their neighbors to do. Nor do they ask any consider¬ 
ation of their neighbors that they themselves would not 
freely grant. In a community where most of the people 
follow this policy, everybody profits by it. 

These matters of policy and habit are to the community 
what foreign policies of the nations are to the civilization 
of the world. The latter are infinitely more complicated and 
complex, but the underlying principles are much the same. 
Thus we begin to see the answer to the question of the 
necessity of a foreign policy. Upon that will depend to a 
large extent the issues of war and peace, or of friendship 
or hostility, among the nations of the world. When Ger¬ 
many began to carry out a foreign policy which considered 
no interests but her own, she embroiled the whole world 
in war. Realizing that with such a policy she was a menace 
to all, many nations made common cause against her. It 
is important, therefore, that we should have a public opin¬ 
ion, based upon the clearest conviction of its righteousness 
and importance, which would demand that the foreign 
policy of America never should depart from the funda¬ 
mental principles of justice and fair dealing with all the 
nations of the world, nor fail to exercise at all times a 
scrupulous regard for their legitimate interests and rights. 

But while these general principles are basic and must 
always be preserved, they are not enough. The interests 
of national defense require not only that our relations with 
other nations should be just and reasonable, that we be 


264 


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ready to resist an attack from foreign foes, but also that in 
times of peace we insist that nations should not so disturb 
the status quo in regard to established international bound¬ 
aries or political dominions, as to constitute a menace to 
our future peace and safety, or to afford to another power 
some new strategic basis for a possible future attack against 
the United States. The theory of such a policy is expressed 
in the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a 
pound of cure. In the interest of future safety, therefore, 
America should have such a policy and be ready to de¬ 
fend it. 

It was in compliance with such principles that the Monroe 
Doctrine was adopted. When the so-called Holy Alliance 
was planning to re-subject the Latin-American republics 
whose independence had been recognized by the United 
States, to the political dominion of Spain, President Monroe 
declared that such action would be considered as “dangerous 
to our peace and safety” and as the “manifestation of an 
unfriendly disposition toward the United States.” The 
reasons for this doctrine were obvious. The South Ameri¬ 
can republics, because of their democratic ideals as well as 
their relative military weakness, would never menace the 
United States. On the other hand, to have powerful 
European empires, who had declared their hostility to 
democracy and freedom, become firmly entrenched upon 
neighboring soil, where they would possess the basis for a 
strategic attack against the United States, and bring to this 
hemisphere the disastrous quarrels and intrigues of 
European politics, would obviously jeopardize the peace 
and safety of the United States. The same reasoning 
justified the later extension of the Doctrine to include the 
prohibition of a foreign power gaining territory in the 
Americas, even though acquired by peaceful session. 

The problem may then be set of determining what pro- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


265 


tection, if any, this policy has afforded to America. This 
is an important question for students to consider, since most 
of the support of the Monroe Doctrine is not based upon 
an understanding of its usefulness, but merely upon feelings 
of national pride. If there had been no Monroe Doctrine, 
and Germany, free to colonize in Brazil and the Caribbean, 
had firmly established herself there and acquired a satis¬ 
factory basis for military operations against the United 
States, we would have found ourselves in a much more 
serious predicament as a consequence of the European War. 
Under such conditions, with the different European bel¬ 
ligerents entrenched on American soil, Germany in Brazil, 
and France in Mexico, for instance, the outbreak in Europe 
would have instantly spread to the European colonies in 
this hemisphere, and have menaced the interests of America 
in a much more immediate and fundamental way. 

But does this Doctrine square with those ideals of fair 
dealing and good neighborliness which should be the basis 
of our international relations? It has frequently been 
denounced as an arbitrary interference with the rights of 
other nations, and therefore an unnecessary cause of inter¬ 
national friction. No doubt other nations have opposed it 
from time to time and have sought to evade it. But are 
such nations just and reasonable in their point of view? 
Are they willing to grant the same kind of concessions 
that they ask ? Would Germany permit us to buy Denmark 
and there erect and fortify a territory of the United States? 
Would Germany consent to England or France peacefully 
acquiring permanent possession of Rotterdam or Antwerp? 
Would the European powers quietly acquiesce if America 
were to acquire Sicily and organize it as part of our national 
domain? Would the powers of Europe consent to Germany 
acquiring Constantinople, even though it be lawfully and 
peacefully done ? The answer is obvious in every case, and 


266 


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for the same fundamental reason that we could not be 
expected to permit foreign powers to establish new domin¬ 
ions in the Americas. Any nation that would insist upon our 
permitting them so to do, could not be considered friendly 
to the United States. Would it not be better, therefore, 
to oppose them then, than to postpone the conflict until that 
power could fight from the vantage ground that we had 
allowed her to attain ? 

Former Secretary of State Root argues convincingly in 
behalf of the Monroe Doctrine as a reasonable and intelli¬ 
gent measure of self-defense. “The most common exercise 
of the right of self-protection outside of a state’s own terri¬ 
tory and in time of peace is the interposition of objection 
to the occupation of territory, of points of strategic military 
or maritime advantage, or to indirect accomplishment of 
this effect by dynastic arrangement. For example, the ob¬ 
jection of England in 1911 to the occupation of a naval 
station by Germany on the Atlantic Coast of Morocco; the 
objection of the European Powers generally to the vast 
force of Russia extending its territory to the Mediterranean; 
the revision of the Treaty of San Stefano by the Treaty 
of Berlin; the establishment of buffer states; the objection 
to the succession of a German prince to the throne of Spain; 
the many forms of the Eastern Question; the centuries of 
struggle to preserve the balance of power in Europe—all 
depend upon the very same principle which underlies the 
Monroe Doctrine; that is to say, upon the right of every 
sovereign state to protect itself by preventing a condition 
of affairs in which it will be too late to protect itself.” 

From the foregoing it should be made clear to the student 
that the Monroe Doctrine is not in violation of those funda¬ 
mental conceptions of fair dealing and regard for the rights 
and welfare of others, that should form the basis of our 
foreign relations. It would seem clear that any state that 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


267 


would insist upon its violation must be regarded as an enemy 
and that it is the part of reasonable foresight and prudence 
to resist that power then and there rather than to delay 
until it may be too late. 

The Monroe Doctrine, thus conceived and understood as 
S reasonable and efficient means for the national defense, 
has been amply justified by almost a century of practical 
experience. On the other hand, improper schemes and 
unworthy aims have been only too frequently camouflaged 
under the protecting influence of its name. The people have 
been too willing to support any policy that invoked the 
authority of Monroe. In this condition there is obvious 
danger. The Monroe Doctrine has become a term with 
which the demagogue may conjure. An appeal to this basic 
principle always finds an immediate response. As long as 
the appeal is to the real principles of intelligent self-defense 
that underlie the Doctrine, it is a national asset of tre¬ 
mendous worth. But when the appeal is not germane to 
those fundamental principles, and invokes the policy of 
Monroe only to mislead the public to the support of an 
unworthy aim, it becomes an actual menace. Most of the 
intelligent criticism against the Doctrine has really been 
directed against its possible abuse. 

Former Secretary Root, while defending with great power 
the real principles that underlie the Doctrine, has made a 
telling plea against its occasional abuse. “A false concep¬ 
tion of what the Monroe Doctrine is, of what it demands 
and what it justifies, of its scope and of its limits, has in¬ 
vaded the public press and affected public opinion within the 
past few years. Grandiose schemes of national expansion 
invoke the Monroe Doctrine. Interested motives to compel 
Central or South American countries to do or refrain from 
doing something by which individual Americans may profit 
invoke the Monroe Doctrine. Clamors for national glory 


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from minds too shallow to grasp at the same time a sense 
of national duty invoke the Monroe Doctrine. The in¬ 
tolerance which demands that control over the conduct and 
the opinions of other peoples which is the essence of tyranny 
invokes the Monroe Doctrine. Thoughtless people who see 
no difference between lawful right and physical power 
assume that the Monroe Doctrine is a warrant for inter¬ 
ference in the internal affairs of all weaker nations in the 
New World. Against this supposititious doctrine many 
protests both in the United States and in South America 
have been made, and justly made. To the real Monroe 
Doctrine these protests have no application.” 

Whether this great Doctrine is to be an asset or a menace, 
depends upon whether the public opinion that supports it is 
intelligent, alert and critical, or whether it be ignorant, 
prejudiced or intolerant. If the public view it as a means 
to worthy ends, and if they will support it only when in¬ 
voked in the nation’s legitimate defense, it will become an 
instrument of incalculable worth. On the other hand, the 
public’s failure to grasp its real significance may lead us into 
difficulties, bring the Doctrine into disrepute, and rob us of 
its protecting power. 

To-day America stands in a critical situation. The 
destruction of her isolation is obvious and plain. Some 
interest in the affairs of Europe can not be denied, for it 
was an Austrian-Serbian controversy that finally involved 
us in a great and costly war. We can not foresee when 
another minor outbreak may precipitate a world conflict 
in which we may again be compelled to play a part. The 
wounds of the recent conflict will not quickly heal. The 
nations of Europe, eager to recoup themselves from the 
drain of four long years of war, will compete with renewed 
bitterness for the trade and markets of the world. They 
will look with increased eagerness to the resources of South 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


269 


America, where the establishment of political dominion 
would afford alluring opportunities for commercial mo¬ 
nopoly and exclusive privilege. A league of nations has 
been suggested as the means by which the nations of the 
world may jointly grapple with these mighty problems. 
What course shall America pursue ? In what direction will 
she find her greatest security? Where can she render her 
largest usefulness? Whatever course we take must lead 
through untried paths and across uncharted seas. The 
very destiny of our nation is at stake. Our future will 
depend upon the courage, the intelligence, the sanity and 
the devotion which the American people bring to bear upon 
the solution of these portentous problems. Civic training 
that ignores these problems is therefore inadequate and in¬ 
complete. 

Another function of the federal government which may 
be profitably utilized to demonstrate its importance, and 
enlist a deep and abiding interest in its behalf, is the power 
to organize and govern the territorial possessions of the 
United States. Some of the greatest crimes against civili¬ 
zation have taken place in connection with colonial policies, 
and it is not uncommon to associate the possession of colo¬ 
nies with political tyranny and hostility to democracy. With 
the annexation of Hawaiian Islands in 1898, and the ac¬ 
quisition of Philippines and Porto Rica through the fortunes 
of war, the problems of colonization were squarely pre¬ 
sented to the United States. Because of the popular appre¬ 
hension against the abuses of colonization, which apparently 
many thought to be inherent in the system, there was great 
opposition to our retention of the territory and a national 
campaign was waged in 1900 over the issue of “imperial- 

• __ ft 

ism. 

Something of the difficulty and importance of the problem 
may be gained from an examination of some of the figures 


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regarding the Philippines. In the acquisition of this terri¬ 
tory, we came into possession of 3,141 islands, covering 
127,000 square miles of territory, and with a population of 
7,635,000, of whom 461,000 were described as wild. The 
destiny of these peoples was thus placed into our keeping. 
More than that, America was to be closely regarded by the 
whole world to see whether, in the control and government 
of colonial territory, we would depart from those principles 
of freedom and democracy which we had so consistently de¬ 
fended and espoused. Would the Philippines be exploited 
or developed? Would the government there established be 
primarily for our benefit or theirs ? Would we seek to pre¬ 
pare the natives for self-government or for vassalage? 
In our own colonial exploits, would we be guilty of the 
wrongs we had so freely condemned in others? These 
questions aroused deep concern among thoughtful Ameri¬ 
cans and require attention now. America, in the acquisition 
of foreign territory, was given an opportunity to demon¬ 
strate her faith in the theory that governments exist for 
the service and benefit of the governed. 

In the colonial record that America has achieved there is 
ground for just and lasting pride. Mistakes have been 
made, but they have generally been mistakes of the head, 
rather than mistakes of the heart. True to our fundamental 
theory, that the basis of effective government must rest 
in the education of the people and their preparation for 
the tasks of life, one of our first concerns in the Philippines 
was the development of a system of popular education, 
in which industrial training received much attention. In 
1912 there were 3,364 primary, 283 intermediate, and 38 
secondary public schools, with an average monthly en¬ 
rollment of 395,075 pupils. 

In addition to this educational program, equally com¬ 
prehensive plans were inaugurated for the protection of the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


271 


public health. The health situation in the islands was very 
bad. Much of the alleged inefficiency of native labor was 
found to be due to such conditions. A successful campaign 
against smallpox was conducted throughout the islands. By 
an efficient marine quarantine cholera has been absolutely 
eliminated. The lepers have been segregated, and the aver¬ 
age number of new cases reduced from seven hundred an¬ 
nually to three hundred. At present a campaign is being 
pressed against tuberculosis, the greatest single cause of 
death in the islands. 

With these general improvements have gone others, such 
as the development of an adequate system of highways and 
roads, all of which have contributed to a remarkable degree 
of progress in the Philippines. In all of this the American 
people have taken interest and pride. When the question 
of Philippine independence comes into domestic politics 
from time to time, it is truly significant that both sides 
defend their particular policy, not on the ground that it is 
to the selfish interest of the United States, but on the ground 
that it is to the best interests of the Philippines- If national 
policy is ever dictated solely by devotion to traditional prin¬ 
ciples of justice and humanity, this would seem to be a case 
in point. What it has meant to the happiness, prosperity 
and well-being of the millions of Filipinos it would be diffi^ 
cult to exaggerate. With this record of achievement, every 
boy and girl can be given an honest thrill of pride and 
generous emotion. They can see anew something of the 
sacred trust that is left to the hands of government. Their 
interest in the government is enlisted because they find that 
its functions are pregnant with possibilities that appeal to 
their imagination and the generous instincts of youth. It 
is not necessary that there should go with this feeling of 
pride a false sense of complacency. If the matter is skil¬ 
fully presented, it will not appeal to the pupils as a com- 


272 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


pleted task but only a worthy beginning, which vividly fore¬ 
casts the marvelous possibilities of generous achievement, 
and which invites their sustained interest and support. 

These are but a few of the important functions of the 
federal government which illustrate its value and impor¬ 
tance. To these may be added its contributions to the cause 
of public health, its efforts in behalf of the conservation of 
natural resources, its wonderful work in developing the 
agricultural possibilities of the country, its conduct of the 
postal system, the building and operation of the Panama 
Canal, and the regulation of commerce between the states 
and with foreign countries. In the exercise of the latter 
powers, it has prevented the instruments of interstate com¬ 
merce from being used for purposes that are immoral and 
indecent. It has prevented the sale and shipment through 
interstate commerce of fraudulently adulterated foods and 
drugs. It has prohibited interstate monopolies and trusts 
that would arbitrarily control the market and levy unjust 
tribute upon the public. All of these functions that touch 
life at so many different points, are dependent for their 
proper exercise upon the ability, fidelity and patriotism of 
the men we send to Washington. In the selection of these 
men is determined the destiny of our nation. To bring this 
fact home, through the functional approach, to every pupil, 
to enlist his instinctive interest in the proper performance 
of the task, and to train his instinctive reactions along in¬ 
telligent and effective lines, is the mission of that teacher 
who believes that dynamic Americanism is a vital force 
that has a practical service to perform. 

The student is now prepared for a consideration of the 
whole framework of government as the organized agency 
through which these functions are to be performed. Now 
he is ready to understand and comprehend its necessity, 
its importance and its functions. It is now a human insti- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


273 


tution and not a maze of technical and philosophical con¬ 
ceptions. With this approach he does not see government 
from any other angle than as a means to an end, a cooper¬ 
ative device for the accomplishment of definite and im¬ 
portant aims. 

But what about the source of this government and Con¬ 
stitution? Experience showed its framers what functions 
it would have to perform. Where did they get their ideas 
as to what kind of government would best perform them? 
Did they arrive at their conclusions from abstract reason¬ 
ing ? Did they have any experiences that would help them ? 
These are problems that will prove fascinating and in¬ 
structive. Obviously they had learned something from their 
experience under the Articles of Confederation. They had 
learned something, doubtless, from experiences garnered 
in the governments of their various states. For about two 
hundred years there had been governmental experiments 
in the New World. There were the first charters of govern¬ 
ments granted to the first colonists, which were framed by 
the officers and ministers of the British Crown, the first one 
of which was Sir Walter Raleigh's charter of 1584. These 
first charters were drafted along the line of English trading 
companies, rather than of political institutions. The second 
class of sources was the constitutions adopted by the colo¬ 
nists themselves, generally with the authority of the Crown, 
but with little or no dictation from the Crown. The third 
class of sources was the constitutions adopted by the colonies 
after the Declaration of Independence. The fourth class 
of sources was the experiences and governments under the 
Continental Congresses and under the Articles of Con¬ 
federation. 

It is impossible here to trace out the processes of evolu¬ 
tion by which the various phases of the Federal Constitution, 
as finally adopted, were evolved. But that process should 


274 


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be indicated and illustrated by at least one or two examples. 
Emphasis should be laid upon the fact that there were 
American experiences for two hundred years prior to the 
Constitution, and that to a large extent, the Constitution, 
like all other documents that have endured, contains a mosaic 
or composite picture of the experiences and aspirations of 
the people who adopted it. If it is desired to go into the 
governmental principles that underlie our government and 
Constitution, there is no more thorough and effective way 
than to trace the particular provision of the Constitution that 
is involved through the experience that produced it, and 
the masterly debates of the constitutional convention that 
analyzed and perfected it. Some teachers have found that a 
constitutional convention, formed by the members of the 
class, and debating the various provisions of the Constitu¬ 
tion, relying upon the history of the period and the records 
of the convention for their material, is a most stimulating 
and effective way of bringing home to the consciousness 
of the pupil, the fundamental principles that are involved. 

Those who get such a view of the Constitution and the 
vital forces that produced it, will come away with a deeper 
appreciation of the tremendous problems confronted by the 
fathers, and of the sanity, courage and devotion with which 
their solution was effected. No one can follow the porten¬ 
tous struggles of the constitutional convention without a 
profound appreciation of the masterful intellects that 
grappled with the tremendous problems, the indomitable 
courage with which were stemmed the tides of impatience, 
bigotry, ignorance and despair, and of the unfaltering de¬ 
votion to the cause of an enduring union, which character¬ 
ized the mighty leaders of that historic body. These men 
were not perfect. The Constitution was not the work of 
omnipotent wisdom. It contains some of the imperfections 
of human hands. ^But in the light of prevailing circum- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


275 


stances it presents one of the greatest achievements of 
statecraft that the world has ever seen. We want the youth 
of the land to honor the achievement for what it was. We 
want them to honor those traits of sanity, courage and de¬ 
votion that gave us a constitution and that made of us a 
nation. We want this done, not in the spirit of sentimental 
hero worship, but in the spirit of keen, accurate and dis¬ 
criminating appreciation of the great things that were 
achieved. From the virile qualities of our indomitable 
pioneers we want our youth to gain sanity, courage and 
inspiration for the tasks that some day will be theirs. 

We thus find illustrated in the federal government and its 
varied functions, the same fundamental principles of law, 
authority and government providing a basis for the co¬ 
operative effort that are essential to the conditions of 
modern life. As the rules of the family and the existence 
of domestic authority were essential to effective family life, 
so are they to the community, the state and the nation. 
There was a community of interests wider than the family 
that made community organization indispensable to modem 
life. That community of interests, being wider than the 
locality, required the larger unit of the state for the satis¬ 
faction of its various needs. The fathers also discovered 
that there was a community of interests between the states 
that could not safely be ignored, and national government 
and authority were established. Intelligent and forward- 
looking statesmen are now considering to what extent there 
may be such a community of interests between the great 
nations of the world, and how far such community of inter¬ 
ests requires international organization and authority for 
its adequate protection. 

Again I fear that it may be thought that there is too much 
emphasis upon the fundamental ideas of law, authority and 
government, as the basis of the modern cooperative efforts 


276 


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that are essential to our civilization. But if there is one 
danger to our institutions that I apprehend above all others, 
with the exception of popular indifference to the public 
weal, it is that in the stress and strain of some great indus¬ 
trial crisis, through which we may be called on to pass, 
our people will temporarily forget that it is only through 
just laws, efficient government and established authority 
that democracy may be made secure. In the conflicts be¬ 
tween capital and labor and in similar periods of unrest, 
the only bulwark of democracy that is secure, is a just and 
adequate system of law that will afford a fair standard for 
the regulation and adjustment of the joint efforts of capital 
and labor, an impartial and efficient government to apply 
that standard, and the authority of a unified nation to see 
that it shall be enforced. 

If we postpone the task of perfecting our legal standards, 
of developing a just theory of distribution, or of mobilizing 
the public opinion of the nation behind a program of justice, 
law and authority, until the evil is upon us and a conflict 
has developed, it may then be too late to act. But if the 
youth of the land can be trained to an appreciation of the 
necessity of a just system of law, an efficient and impartial 
government, and the righteous settlement of these problems 
as they arise, democracy will be secure. Against such a 
bulwark the forces of unrest, ignorance and revolt will beat 
in vain. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. Is there any inherent difficulty that makes impossible the de¬ 
velopment of a patriotism of peace that will be as effective as the 
patriotism of war? 

2. We have created a sentiment of military patriotism so definite 
that in the hour of national peril men instinctively respond with the 
offer of military service. Is it possible to create a sentiment of 
patriotism so dynamic and well trained that in time of domestic 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


277 


needs men will instinctively respond with the appropriate conduct? 
How is this sentiment to be created? 

3. How may we develop a respect for law and order, without de¬ 
veloping a static mind that will oppose all change, regardless of its 
need? Illustrate from the study of the federal government and 
functions. 

# 4 - I n teaching the history and formation of the Federal Constitu¬ 
tion, what main purposes would you hope to accomplish ? 

5. What evils would result, if the public regarded the Constitution 
as the inspired product of divine wisdom? 

6. In what ways does the study of the state governments and 
functions prepare the way for the study of the federal government 
and functions? 

7. In what ways does the study of the evolution and formation 
of the Federal Constitution throw light upon the problems involved 
in forming a league of nations ? 

8. What evils may result from popular ignorance and loose think¬ 
ing regarding our foreign policy? How do you propose to combat 
those evils in your teaching? 

9. What do you think of a mock constitutional convention as a 
means of studying the principles of the federal government? 

10. Outline a general plan for the study of the federal govern¬ 
ment and functions, indicating the order in which you would take 
up the various parts of the work and the details of each part that 
you think most important for your purposes. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Bryce, James, American Commonwealth (Macmillan Company, New 

York, 1907). 

Volume I, “The National Government.” 

Beard, C. A., Readings in American Government and Politics (Mac¬ 
millan Company, New York, 1913). 

Part II, “The Federal Government.” 

Reed, Thomas H., Form and Functions of American Government 

(World Book Company, Yonkers, N. Y., 1916). 

Part V, “Government of the United States.” 

Part VI, “The Functions of Government.” 

Hall, Arnold B., Monroe Doctrine and the World War (A. C. Mc- 

Clurg, Chicago, Ill., 1920). 

Chapter VIII, “World War and the League of Nations.” 

Chapter IX, “The Monroe Doctrine of the Future.” 


278 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


Kimball, E., The National Government of the United States (Ginn 
& Co., Boston, Mass., 1920). 

Reinsch, Paul S., Readings on American Federal Government (Ginn 
& Co., Boston, Mass., 1909). 

Fairlie, John A., The National Administration of the United States 
of America (Macmillan Company, New York, 1909). 

Hart, Albert B., Actual Government (Longmans, Green & Co., New 
York, 1908). 

Parts V to IX. 

Hill, J. P., The Federal Executive (Houghton, Mifflin Company, 
Boston, Mass., 1917). 

Duggan, Stephen P., The League of Nations, the Principle and the 
Practice (Atlantic Monthly Press, Boston, 1919). 

Munro, W. B., Government of the United States (Macmillan Com¬ 
pany, New York, 1919). 

Chapter VII, “The President” 

Chapter VIII, “Presidential Powers and Functions.” 

Chapter IX, “The Cabinet and National Administration.” 
Chapter X, “The Senate. Its Organization.” 

Chapter XI, “The Senate. Its Functions.” 

Chapter XII, “The House of Representatives. Its Composi¬ 
tion ” 

Chapter XIII, “The House of Representatives. Organization 
and Procedure.” 

Chapter XIV, “The General Powers of Congress.” 

Also Chapters XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI on 
“The General Powers of Congress.” 

Young, James T., The New American Government and Its Work 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1915). 

Chapter I, “The Introduction.” 

Chapter II, “The President” 

Chapter III, “The House of Representatives.” 

Chapter IV, “The Senate.” 

Chapter V, “The Powers of Congress. Taxation and Fi¬ 
nance.” 

Chapter VI, “The Powers of Congress. The Regulation of 
Commerce.” 

Chapter VII, “The Powers of Congress. The Sherman Act.” 
Chapter VIII, “The Powers of Congress. Publicity. The 
Trade Commission and the Clayton Act” 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


279 


Chapter IX, “The Powers of Congress. Federal Police 
Power Over Interstate Commerce.” 

Chapter X, “The Powers of Congress. Their Relation to 
State Powers Over Commerce.” 

Chapter XI, “The Powers of Congress. The Postal Power.” 
Chapter XII, “The Powers of Congress. The War Power.” 
Chapter XIII, “The Powers of Congress. Control over the 
Territories and Other Powers.” 

Chapter XIV, “The National Conservation Polity.” 

Chapter XV, “The Federal Judiciary.” 

Where to write for further information: 

United States Wax Department, Washington, D. C. 

National Security League, 31 Pine Street, New York City. 
League to Enforce Peace, 22 West Nineteenth Street, New York 
City. 

World Peace Foundation, 40 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, 
Mass. 

United States Department of Commerce (Questions relating to 
foreign trade). 

Pan American Union (For information regarding Latin America). 
United States Department of State (foreign affairs). 

The National Voters’ League, Washington, D. C (For informa¬ 
tion regarding Congress.) 


CHAPTER XI 


FUNCTIONS AND ORGANIZATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES 

I N A RECENT magazine occurred a vivid description of 
the organization of an attack in modern war. Many miles 
to the rear of the front-line trenches was pictured the com¬ 
manding officer in charge, confronted with military maps, 
giving in minutest detail the topography of the battle-field, 
the location of the troops and the arrangement of the artil¬ 
lery. Connecting the headquarters of the general in charge 
with the subordinate officers who were to execute his plans, 
were all the varied methods of communication that mod¬ 
ern invention could devise. In front of headquarters were 
located the great guns of longest range, trained to play 
upon the lines of the enemy ten to fifteen miles beyond. 
A little farther on were located the guns of smaller cali¬ 
ber, and then the shrapnel guns, and then finally, in the 
front-line trenches, the private soldier with his rifle. The 
writer described the marvelous skill and detail with which 
the general and his staff planned every step of the attack. 
He described the terrible artillery assaults that preceded, 
the fearful barrage that was laid down to protect the ad¬ 
vance, and finally the desperate encounters and struggle of 
the privates as they fought their way to victory. The dra¬ 
matic account brought out in bold relief one fundamental 
and significant fact, that, in the last analysis, it was the 
private soldier who won the victory. The greatest gen¬ 
eral the world has ever known, the mightiest artillery that 
has ever been assembled, the most destructive gas that 
science has invented, all would have failed but for the dis- 

280 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


281 


cipline, courage and sense of individual responsibility of 
the private. 

Had the private reasoned that he was only one among 
thousands and of no importance, had he sought to escape 
his personal accountability in the mere mass of numbers, 
had he left the responsibility for failure or success upon 
officers and comrades, defeat and not victory would have 
been his lot. This simple fact illustrates a vital need in 
civic training. Military discipline and training brought 
home to every soldier a keen sense of personal respon¬ 
sibility. It was accomplished by driving home, with tell¬ 
ing vividness, the importance of his humble task until 
victory or defeat or life or death were identified in his con¬ 
sciousness with duty or neglect. When it is recalled that 
this discipline was accomplished in a few months, and with 
boys gathered at random from every walk in life, it becomes 
significant. The secret seems to lie in the intensity of in¬ 
terest aroused by the serious nature of the task, and in mak¬ 
ing clear the line of duty and the overwhelming impor¬ 
tance of its performance. 

I have attempted to show in the preceding chapters how 
the tragic nature of civic problems may be utilized to arouse 
an intensity of interest that would become a real dynamic 
force. But this force will be ineffective unless with it goes 
a clear understanding of the line of duty to be followed, 
and a sense of individual responsibility that can not be 
evaded in the magnitude of the task or lost in the great 
mass of countless citizens. As the efficiency of the soldier 
is obtained by drilling him in his specific tasks, and impress¬ 
ing upon him the practicability and importance of his part, 
even though he be but one among thousands, so the pupil 
must be drilled and instructed in the practical performance 
of civic duty and impressed with the fundamental impor¬ 
tance of his individual activity, so that he will not neglect 


282 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


his duty, either through a sense of impotence or a feeling 
of indifference. He must be made to feel that in the eternal 
struggle of democracy for decency and justice, he is a pri¬ 
vate in the front-line trenches, and that his part of the strug¬ 
gle must be aggressively and worthily performed. 

When one is intellectually equipped to grapple intelli¬ 
gently with public problems; when he is instinctively re¬ 
sponsive to their significance and importance; when he 
knows enough about the government to determine accu¬ 
rately where to apply the pressure of his influence, even 
then he may be impotent, through failure to comprehend 
how that pressure may be applied. Even though his judg¬ 
ment be splendid, his sense of personal responsibility keen, 
and his desire to serve be strong, he can accomplish naught, 
unless he can bring his splendid talents to influence the 
sources of official power. This is not always easy nor is 
the way always clear. One of the greatest causes of pop¬ 
ular indifference to political affairs, is the popular feeling 
of impotence. Among the most educated and cultured folk, 
as well as among the more ignorant, this feeling finds con¬ 
tinual expression. “What is the use ?” has become an alibi 
for failure to take an interest in civic affairs, that is en¬ 
tirely too common for the public good. 

This problem of democracy was foreseen by Edmond 
Burke, who suggested that the infinitesimal degree of per¬ 
sonal responsibility that each one would bear for public 
wrongs and blunders, would make him feel unaccountable 
personally for the results, however tragic they might be. 
Add to this the further consideration that many people 
lack the imagination, patience and understanding to make 
what voice they have effective, and the forces of discourage¬ 
ment become tremendous. Indifference seems to be the in¬ 
evitable result. No one will take a deep or sustained in¬ 
terest in public problems unless he feels that his efforts are 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 283 

effective. He will not respond to the call of civic duty, if 
his endeavors are to be abortive. 

One of the essential problems of civic training, therefore, 
is to show how one’s interest and devotion to the public 
weal may be made an effective force in the control of gov¬ 
ernmental power. When one realizes that he is but one 
among millions of voters, escape from the feeling of per¬ 
sonal responsibility is frequently both easy and alluring. To 
meet this situation, there must be organized a dynamic senti¬ 
ment of patriotism so powerful and profound that it will 
sustain a continued and determined effort. There must 
exist an intelligent appreciation of the problems involved, a 
detailed knowledge of how one’s efforts are to be so intel¬ 
ligently directed that they will be practical, and a clear 
understanding that through such efforts progress will be 
sure, though frequently very slow. Ordinarily the only 
progress that is possible or desirable, must of necessity be 
slow. Civilization can not be made over in a day. Funda¬ 
mental problems can not be solved by instantaneous solu¬ 
tions. And yet demagogues have promised so much, so 
many times, that superficial people, because the impossible 
was never done, have abandoned hope of progress. This 
difficulty will largely disappear as the evolutionary point of 
view becomes more thoroughly established and the people 
become accustomed to seeking progress through evolu¬ 
tionary instead of revolutionary programs. 

This leaves for our consideration the question of teaching 
the youth how to make their interest and devotion to the 
public weal a practical affair. This involves some of the 
following problems i How can one become an effective force 
for better government? How can one give aid and sup¬ 
port to administrative or legislative measures that one be¬ 
lieves to be for the public good? What practical ways are 
open to the average citizen to improve the efficiency of the 


I 


284 DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 

government, as an instrument for the satisfaction of human 
needs? It is obvious that civic training is not complete 
until this has been accomplished. The relation of the citi¬ 
zen to his government and the ways of his possible partici¬ 
pation therein, are fundamental matters, if dynamic Amer¬ 
icanism is to be more than a mere academic theory. If it 
is to yield results in better government, in the development 
of a more perfect democracy, and in the solution of the 
public’s problems, it must be translated into an accomplished 
fact. Dynamic Americanism, if it is to be practical, must 
function in terms of civic achievement. 

In taking up the specific problems above mentioned, many 
helpful suggestions will undoubtedly occur. A method of 
making these suggestions practical and realistic, is to bring 
some particular matter before the class, have them discuss 
it, and then consider how they can contribute to the ac¬ 
complishment of the definite aim desired. For instance, if 
there is an ordinance pending in the city council, an impor¬ 
tant statute in the legislature, an interesting measure be¬ 
fore Congress, or some kind of administrative decision by 
the executive, bring one of these before the class, and con¬ 
sider how the various members of the public can proceed to 
see that the proper views prevail. Letters from constituents 
to members of the bodies involved, will be one of the 
methods suggested, and is the one most commonly em¬ 
ployed. To this the great objection will be made that one 
letter will accomplish nothing. This can be said of the in¬ 
dividual voter in every election. It can be said of the pri¬ 
vate citizen in regard to every form of patriotic duty. If 
this objection be permitted to prevail, it is the negation of 
democracy itself, for in the last analysis, the action of de¬ 
mocracy is the action of its individual members. If the pri¬ 
vates in the front-line trenches had adopted this fatal fal¬ 
lacy, all the generals and military genius that the Allies could 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


285 


have produced, all the artillery that they could concentrate 
upon the battle fronts, all the daring and brilliant air service 
that devotion and ingenuity could have contrived, would 
have come to naught. Not a trench could have been taken, 
the foe would never have been defeated, and the victory 
never could have been won, had the private soldier adopted 
this fatalistic point of view. As already noted, it was only 
by the heroism, devotion and self-sacrifice of the indi¬ 
vidual private that progress was achieved and victory se¬ 
cured. 

What was true of the military campaigns in Europe was 
equally true of the problems that we had to solve at home. 
The food controller and his staff of experts could work out 
the finest plans, they could devise the most ingenious sub¬ 
stitutes for the needed foods, they could work out elab¬ 
orate and comprehensive programs of conservation, but it 
would be useless, unless the individual citizens throughout 
the land were ready and willing to comply. In the last 
analysis, it was the willingness of the private citizen to deny 
himself for the common good that gave us victory. If every 
man had sought relief from patriotic duty on the ground 
that what one man might do would come to naught, we 
would have come to a disastrous defeat. 

Another example of a different kind, of what can be ac¬ 
complished by individual effort is afforded by the struggle 
in the United States Senate over the ratification of the peace 
treaty and the league of nations. A private citizen of the 
city of New York, who had taken a deep interest in the 
league of nations and had made a careful study of the is¬ 
sues that were involved, began a campaign of letter-writing 
in behalf of his ideas. He wrote to the members of the Sen¬ 
ate, to the prominent party leaders, and to his fellow citi¬ 
zens throughout the country, urging his convictions with 
strength and power. So clearly did he state his views, and 


286 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


so convincing and sane were his proposals, and so practical 
were his suggestions, that the course of the treaty in the 
Senate was very visibly affected by the efforts of a private 
citizen who had determination, public spirit and common 
sense. 

The importance of one’s taking his responsibility seriously, 
and seeking to have a voice in the control of government, 
is accentuated by the fact that in many public issues, there 
is a determined organized minority fighting against the real 
interests of the majority, and the minority frequently wins 
through the indifference of the public. It is very popular, 
on such occasions, to shout about invisible government and 
autocratic power, but the plain unvarnished facts are that 
the minority won through the acquiescence of the majority. 
A former governor of one of our states once told me of an 
intense political struggle in which he had been engaged, and 
which involved the liquor question. There was no doubt 
but that the great majority of the people of that state were 
in favor of the drys, and it was on this side that the gov¬ 
ernor had aligned himself. The situation was intense. Par¬ 
tisan spirit was keen and bitter. The wets fought with the 
deadly precision of an organization that was trained and 
disciplined. 

The governor asked his secretary to keep separate all the 
communications of those supporting his stand from those 
opposing it. He wanted to weigh the evidence. Opposing 
his position were telegrams from every section of the state, 
from every political party and from people in every walk 
in life. They threatened, argued and pleaded. Men who 
were political leaders in the community wrote, demanding 
that he change his position or that they would appear at the 
next state convention, with the delegation from their coun¬ 
ties pledged against the governor. Men called up on long dis- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


287 


tance to say that they would come to the next convention as 
delegates against him, unless he changed his views. On 
the other hand, the governor did not get a single letter from 
any man promising to organize a delegation in his be¬ 
half at the next convention, if he would win the fight. No 
man called on the long distance to say that he would come 
to the next convention as a delegate to fight in the gover¬ 
nor’s support, in case he proved faithful to the end. He 
received very few telegrams approving his stand and only a 
very small percentage of the letters received supported his 
position. Almost single-handed and alone, against such 
pressure as few men ever have to meet, this governor fought 
the battle for the majority and won. If there are evil in¬ 
fluences affecting our political life, one may rest assured that 
they are active and at work. If just and enlightened laws 
conflict with corrupt or selfish interests, these interests will 
find a way to make their voice effective. Unless the private 
individuals, who have no interests save those of patriotism 
and love of justice, can fight with equal spirit and deter¬ 
mination, wrong must frequently prevail. And if it does not 
prevail, it will be because of the daring courage of some 
public leader, like the governor mentioned above, who can 
withstand the pressure of the assault and protect the public 
from the evils of their own neglect. But no man with red 
blood and a sense of justice should seek a selfish safety in 
the unsupported power of a strong and fearless leader. 

Many other ways of bringing private influence to bear in 
shaping the conduct of government will doubtless suggest 
themselves, such as group action and resolutions by civic 
clubs, chambers of commerce, and other groups who interest 
themselves in public problems. Joint debates and public 
discussion may also play an important part. To the alert 
and interested, many means of making their voices heard in 


288 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


the councils of the government may be found, if they can be 
brought to realize the importance of individual accounta¬ 
bility, and that such means are practical and effective. 

It is in this connection that we come to the question of po¬ 
litical parties, the part they play in the life of our govern¬ 
ment, and the proper relations of the citizen to the party. 
There seem to be few topics more misunderstood, where so 
much “bunk” passes for reason, and prejudice so com¬ 
pletely supplants facts, than the subject of political parties, 
and yet there is no one aspect of our political life that is so 
fundamental to our governmental progress and success. In 
the past few years it has been the fashion to denounce po¬ 
litical parties, machines and bosses. One state went so far 
as to consider the abolition of political parties by law. If 
things went wrong, the public business was neglected and 
public problems were unsolved, it was the fault of parties. 
Decent and even intelligent men frequently sought alibis 
from a guilty conscience, by asserting that politics was too 
corrupt, and that honest men must hold themselves aloof. 
It was seriously argued, by those opposed to women’s suf¬ 
frage, that it should not be adopted for the reason that party 
politics was so fundamentally corrupt that women’s morals 
would be placed in jeopardy. Demagogues have assured 
a too eager and credulous public, that for all these ills the 
public is not to blame, but it should be laid at the door of 
parties, bosses and machines. 

With these facts in view, it becomes highly important that 
any training in civics should include a thorough under¬ 
standing of the party system. If it is to blame for all our 
ills, it is time that we should attack it, and if it is not, it is 
time that we cease fighting windmills and get down to solid 
facts. Beginning with the problem method, we should set 
the pupils to the task of determining why political parties 
were organized. Who organized them? What functions 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


289 


do they perform ? Could we abolish political parties ? These 
and many similar questions would soon direct the students 
to the discovery that one of the first purposes of a party, 
and the reason for its organization, was to provide a 
method of nominating candidates for public office. When 
the fathers adopted our Federal and early State Constitu¬ 
tions, they provided that certain officers should be elected 
by popular vote, but they made no provision for the nom¬ 
ination of the candidates to be elected. Unless candidates 
are nominated and announce certain principles for which 
they stand, so that the public may choose between men and 
principles, how can the public control the government? 

This difficulty may not appear at first, but a few questions 
and illustrations will suffice. When in the fourth grade of 
the public school I recall an incident that will make it clear. 
The school authorities decided the pupils should march in 
the memorial day parade to the cemetery, that the school 
should march by classes, and that each class should elect a 
captain to march at the head of the class. The teacher asked 
the pupils, without giving them an opportunity to talk it 
over, to vote by secret ballot for a captain. Out of about 
thirty votes, one boy got five and was elected, most boys get¬ 
ting the one vote they had cast for themselves. The boy who 
was elected was easily the most unpopular boy in the class, 
and we always suspected that he got the five votes by prom¬ 
ising the four boys around him to vote for each of them if 
they would vote for him, and then voting for himself. No 
one could say that the election represented the public opin¬ 
ion of the class. Had there been nominations, so that the 
class would have been given a choice between a smaller 
number of candidates, a candidate could have been elected by 
a majority of the class instead of by a very small minority. 
Nominations are absolutely necessary if public opinion is to 
prevail, and without that there can be no popular govern- 


290 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


ment. Suppose we should attempt to elect a president of the 
United States without the aid of nominating conventions. 
There would probably be as many ‘‘prominent candidates” 
as there are states in the Union. Each commonwealth 
would come forth with its “favorite son” and the man se¬ 
lected might come to the presidency of the United States 
with no other support, and with no other point of view than 
that of his native state. Such conditions would be intol¬ 
erable. 

But with political parties representing the people of like 
political opinions and tendencies from the several states, 
sending their representatives to a great political convention, 
where the claims of all the “favorite sons” are thrashed out 
and a man nominated that can command the votes of a 
majority of all the representatives of his party, the public 
is given a choice between two or three candidates of national 
reputation, and through the choice of one of them, public 
opinion can intelligently prevail. 

But this is not all. A few searching questions will dis¬ 
close the fact that the public must not only select officers, 
but they must approve certain principles, if they are to con¬ 
trol the government. If the people merely elect officers 
without knowing the things for which they stand, and with¬ 
out an opportunity to express an opinion upon any principles 
or theories of government, or upon any program of action 
to guide the officers in the performance of their duty, how 
can the government be a government by the people? Pop¬ 
ular government means one in which public opinion pre¬ 
vails. But how can it prevail unless an opportunity is 
given to the public to approve or reject certain programs 
for governmental action? Recognizing this fact, it did not 
take the people long to realize that if they wanted to control 
the government in the interests of the theories that they 
held, they must organize for that definite task. People who 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


291 


believed in a set of governmental theories, got together, se¬ 
lected their leaders as the candidates for public office, 
adopted a platform of the principles for which they stood, 
and to which their candidate was pledged, and placed these 
before the public for their approval. The election of their 
candidates meant that the government would be operated 
along the lines suggested by the platform of principles. For 
convenience they found it necessary to adopt a name for 
their organization, and a distinctive emblem to indicate 
which of the various candidates for public office were 
pledged to their principles. This was a political party. The 
people of the country divided into two large parties, with a 
number of smaller ones. It is these parties that nominate 
candidates for offices and draw up the platforms upon 
which the public votes to-day. The only instrumentality 
that we have so far been able to invent, by which public 
opinion can prevail throughout a large territory like a state 
or the nation, is the political party. It is, therefore, indis¬ 
pensable to the life of a democracy. 

Nor is this all of the important work performed by the 
various parties. It soon became evident that if those hold¬ 
ing a certain line of political beliefs, such as those favoring 
a protective tariff, desired victory, they could only win their 
point by convincing the majority of the voters of the country 
that the system of protective tariff was desirable. The tar¬ 
iff problem is a complicated question. It requires a great 
deal of study, the analysis of a great many statistics, and an 
understanding of fundamental economic theory. Obviously 
this could not be done by the average citizen without a great 
deal of assistance. The parties, realizing this, have pro¬ 
ceeded to develop programs of popular education. Tons of 
literature, in which the problems are stated in simple terms, 
the statistics analyzed in easy forms, and the arguments ad¬ 
vanced in such simple style that they can be comprehended 


292 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


with the minimum of difficulty, are printed and circulated 
to the voters of the entire nation. In addition, speak¬ 
ers are employed to engage in public discussion, and 
occasionally joint debates between opposing candidates are 
staged. Advertising space is purchased in newspapers and 
on bulletin boards, and every conceivable device resorted 
to, to bring the candidates of the party and the platform 
upon which they stand, to the attention of the country. 
Party newspapers are frequently established or endorsed as 
party organs, and add their resources to the publicity efforts 
of the campaign. This requires vast sums of money and 
elaborate organizations, covering the entire country, and 
reaching from every precinct to the national committee of 
the various parties. 

It may be objected that much of this popular education, 
in which the party engages, is not helpful, because so par¬ 
tisan and unfair. Undoubtedly there is more than a grain 
of truth in the assertion; nevertheless many people are de¬ 
pendent upon the activity of political parties for much of 
their political education, and it is this fact that makes the 
party a tremendously important factor in public affairs. 
Perhaps one of the most significant examples of how such 
methods may influence public opinion is evidenced by the 
campaign of 1896, when the silver question was the issue 
between the two contending parties. Shrewd political ob¬ 
servers generally agree that the decision would have been 
different had the election been held six weeks earlier, thereby 
implying that the campaign of education among the voters, 
on behalf of the gold standard, was particularly effective. 
This is not the place to discuss whether that result was 
good or bad, so far as the issues were concerned, but it is 
significant that there could be such a change in public 
opinion as a result of a political campaign. Any organiza- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


293 


tion that has that much influence with the voters of the 
land, is deserving our special study and consideration. 

Thus we find our modern political parties with their in¬ 
tricate and elaborate organization, like other political insti¬ 
tutions, to be a product of evolution. They have come into 
being to meet certain specific needs, viz., the nomination of 
candidates, the promulgation of political issues, and the 
conduct of political campaigns w T ith their programs of pop¬ 
ular education. The parties have evolved in form and 
organization, as experience has shown more clearly the 
necessity of these functions and the better methods of per¬ 
forming them. In the early days candidates were nominated 
by legislative and congressional caucuses. Candidates for 
state office were nominated by the party members of the 
legislature, and candidates for the presidency were nom¬ 
inated by the party members of Congress. Thus the Fed¬ 
eralist members of a state legislature nominated the Federal¬ 
ist candidates for state office, and like procedure prevailed 
in Congress for the nomination of a Federalist candidate for 
Congress. It took some time for even this simple method 
to develop, and before then, nominations were made in any 
way possible, by the voluntary efforts of a few friends, 
through the suggestions of influential leaders, by mass meet¬ 
ings, and any other methods of attracting public attention 
that might be devised. 

The legislative caucus, when once established, prevailed 
in one form or another until the development of the modern 
party organization which occurred during the thirties. The 
disappearance of the legislative caucus was due to certain 
inherent weaknesses which we need not here consider. The 
modern political party, which has changed radically in de¬ 
tail and method in recent years, still persists for the sole 
reason that it has a tremendous function to perform for 
which no better means have been devised. 


294 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


In spite ot these obvious facts, the popular and unthinking 
condemnation of political parties has continued. It is true 
that serious abuses have developed from time to time, in 
which party organizations have been guilty of immoral and 
criminal conduct. Undiscriminating criticism against par¬ 
ties per se, has blinded many to the important fact that it is 
only through parties that public opinion can be made articu¬ 
late in the control of government. People have forgotten 
that political parties are nothing more or less than the people 
of the country, divided into groups according to political 
opinions, preferences or prejudices. Political parties as such 
are no more immoral than are the people politically im¬ 
moral. If there is no hope for democracy because of the 
rottenness of political parties, then there is no hope for 
popular government, because of the rottenness of the peo¬ 
ple. If a man is too good to be associated with the evils of 
political parties, then he is too good to live in the same com¬ 
munity with his fellow citizens, for it is the latter that com¬ 
pose the former. When one becomes so self-righteous that 
he holds himself aloof from practical politics because of 
their alleged abuses, then he is too good for this world and 
the wicked problems that it contains. Such an attitude of 
moral superiority is both selfish and cowardly. 

Until some better means is devised of nominating candi¬ 
dates for public' office, adopting platforms and conducting 
campaigns, political parties will be essential to our democ¬ 
racy. They are the necessary instruments of popular con¬ 
trol. If they do not give us good candidates, or provide 
good platforms, or conduct wholesome campaigns, it is be¬ 
cause those of us who compose the parties have not yet 
demanded it with sufficient force and in sufficient numbers. 
The remedy is to be found in more active participation in 
party affairs, and not in abandoning them to the mercy of 
the professional. If our parties have not kept pace with the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


295 


demands of modern life, the time has come for every citizen 
who believes in patriotic duty, to become an effective factor 
in some political organization, in order to make them effect¬ 
ive instruments of democracy. If party management has 
been indifferent and incompetent, out of those very facts 
should come the challenge to enter their ranks in a deter¬ 
mined struggle for their perfection. Political parties are not 
something separate and apart from the people, but are the 
creations and instruments of the people. They are the peo¬ 
ple politically organized. It is only through them and their 
perfection that constructive achievements can be accom¬ 
plished. It is with these instruments that the public must 
contend against the forces of ignorance, indifference and re¬ 
action. With the realization of this fundamental fact, a con¬ 
structive attitude toward parties becomes possible. The 
pupil must see in them not an object of despair, but the 
means of hope. He must realize that the path of civic duty 
leads through them and not away from them. 

We are now ready to consider the detail of the party or¬ 
ganization. After the necessity of its existence has been 
established, and its functions have been discussed, the stu¬ 
dent is now ready to comprehend the organization as it 
has been developed. This is not the place to discuss this 
matter in detail but only in general outline. The modern 
organization of political parties is made up of three hier¬ 
archies, a hierarchy of conventions or primaries, a hierarchy 
of committees, and a hierarchy of bosses or leaders. There 
is at the top, the national party convention, composed 
of delegates from the various states and congressional 
districts. This convention nominates candidates for the 
presidency and vice-presidency, elects the members of the 
national committees, and adopts the national platform for 
the party. Then there is a state convention that performs 
the same function for the party in the state, and which is 


296 


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made up of delegates from the political divisions of the 
state. In some states, most of these functions are performed 
by direct primaries, instead of by the party conventions. 
Then there are the county conventions or primaries for per¬ 
forming the same general functions for the county. Of 
course there are also conventions or primaries for all of the 
other political subdivisions of the state, but those just men¬ 
tioned are the backbone of the system. 

The hierarchy of committees, parallels the hierarchy of 
conventions or primaries, from the national central commit¬ 
tee, composed of one member from each state, and whose 
function it is to conduct the campaigns, arrange for conven¬ 
tions, raise the party funds and look out for the general 
interests of the party in national affairs, down to the state 
central committee, the county central committee and the 
township or precinct committeeman. The third hierarchy, 
the hierarchy of bosses or leaders, is the group of national 
leaders, state leaders or local leaders, whose capacity for or¬ 
ganization and leadership has won for them the dominant in¬ 
fluence in their respective groups. 

Here perhaps it may be wise to make a suggestion about 
the nature of the boss. So much has been uttered and writ¬ 
ten in reckless condemnation of the political boss and the 
professional politician that the public have come to look 
upon them as enemies to society. The demagogue has found 
an alibi for the indifferent public in the evils of the political 
boss. The facts are that the people generally get just about 
the kind of government that they deserve. They pay no at¬ 
tention to it, until it gets hopelessly corrupt, then they 
awaken to a realization of the facts, and rather than accept 
the responsibility that is their own, they greedily seize the 
excuse that it is the work of the political boss. Quite fre¬ 
quently the facts are that the political bosses have been do¬ 
ing the best they could, but have been unable to get the sup- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


297 


port of the intelligent and respectable classes, and have been 
driven, as a matter of political necessity, to take the steps 
they have. This has led to a general and indiscriminate cry 
against the boss. His elimination from our political life 
has been demanded. But a moment’s consideration will 
show the fallacy of the position. One might as well try to 
run a railroad company without a manager, a university 
without a president, a school without a superintendent or 
principal, or the nation without a chief executive as to have 
a great political organization without one or more dominant 
personalities at its head. 

Every successful church has a few members who find a 
considerable portion of their pleasure in the service of the 
church. They are the ones who make most of the motions 
at business meetings, who serve on important committees, 
who are never too busy to do the work that is required. We 
call them the pillars of the church. Every lodge and frater¬ 
nal organization which is efficient has its little group of men 
who do the great proportion of the work, determine its poli¬ 
cies and identify its welfare with their own. Every success¬ 
ful civic club or organization has back of it a few guiding 
souls, whose imagination, initiative, devotion and industry, 
make possible its record of achievement, and we call them 
the public-spirited men of the community. It is true that 
there are some who do not give these men the praise that 
they deserve. There are always a few, in every organiza¬ 
tion, who sit in the scoffers’ seat in the rear, who never 
make any motions, never have time to serve on any commit¬ 
tees, never work out any programs, and never approve of 
what the others do. They sit in silence and “knock” after¬ 
ward. “The same old ‘bunch’ running things” is the burden 
of their complaint. Why do not they run things? Because 
they are too lazy, indifferent, or mediocre, to take a part, 
while they jealously condemn those who do. 


298 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


In every political party, in every community, there is 
a group of men who naturally take an interest in politics. 
They like the human aspects of the problem. They enjoy 
the leadership they are able to obtain here. They enjoy the 
political importance that it gives them as public men. With 
many men, politics is a religion, and they give to it the 
same passionate devotion that others give to their theology. 
They keep informed as to the political questions of the com¬ 
munity. They serve on the party committees, or stand be¬ 
hind the scenes to plan and advise and scheme. They are 
the ones who seek out the “likely” candidates, arrange for 
the party primaries, when not provided for by law, and look 
after the interests of the party, the same as the pillars of the 
church bear the responsibility of its activities. In other 
w r ords, the boss and politician is the man who makes the 
political matters of his community his personal interest and 
concern. Yet we honor the men who serve the church and 
speak of them as the “pillars,” while we recklessly condemn 
those whose public spirit, temperament or ambitions have 
made them interested in politics to the point of assuming the 
political responsibility of the community. But some will re¬ 
spond that political bosses are narrow, partisan and dishon¬ 
est. So, also, are pillars of the church occasionally. They 
frequently confuse means with ends, or become autocratic 
or narrowly sectarian or partisan. Occasionally they have 
been found to be dishonest. But without them the church 
can not exist. So, without the politicians, political parties 
and democracy would suffer much. How powerful and 
autocratic the boss will be depends on how indifferent the 
people are. His power increases in exact proportion with 
popular indifference. Also with popular indifference his 
necessity to popular government increases with correspond¬ 
ing ratio, for public affairs must be run, and if people will 
not run them, the bosses or politicians must. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


299 


Some one may object that I am confusing political 
bosses and political leaders. Much fine-spun theory might 
be developed in trying to work out distinction, but it 
would be of no practical value or importance. Whatever 
name they may go by, there will always be a group of domi¬ 
nant personalities back of every political organization. The 
important thing is to understand this fact and order one s 
political life and interests accordingly. There has been no 
more fruitful source of power for the demagogue than the 
attempted distinction between the leader and the boss. When 
nicely analyzed, the only practical distinction is that a boss 
belongs to your party and the leaders to mine. 

The hierarchy of committees, conventions and politicians 
that compose your party organization is a political “machine” 
with all the sinister connotations that the word implies, 
while the same kind of arrangements in my party constitute 
our organization. Nowhere in modem politics is there such 
a splendid example of the tyranny of an established phrase. 
Nowhere in modem thinking has there been evidenced such 
servile following of ignorant and unreasoning prejudice. 
The most autocratic bosses that the country has seen have 
ridden to power by denouncing the opposition as boss rid¬ 
den, and decrying the organization as a “machine. One of 
the most discouraging factors in the present political sit¬ 
uation is the ease with which the public may be diverted 
from a sane and intelligent interest in the fundamental prob¬ 
lems of public policy and efficient administration, by an ap¬ 
peal to this trite and hypocritical device. The unscrupu¬ 
lous and selfish interests in our public life will always thrive 
to just the extent that the people may be diverted from the 
real issues of public efficiency. It is under the protection 
of these false issues that the worst elements escape de¬ 
tection. It is behind the “smoke screens” of such fab¬ 
ricated issues that the most sinister influences ply their 


300 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


trade. Nor is there any hope for permanent improvement 
until they can be driven into the open, and political cam¬ 
paigns fought out upon the fundamental issues of the social 
efficiency of the government. 

It must not be supposed that I am implying that all men 
who appeal to this time-honored protest against the rule of 
bosses and machines represent sinister influences or corrupt 
motives. Such is not the case. However high a man’s mo¬ 
tives may be, if he runs for public office, he must make the 
appeal that wins, if he would accomplish the ends he has 
in view. Too frequently such an appeal seems to be the 
only method, because of the unwillingness of the people to 
respond to arguments more fundamental and profound. 
Nor must it be supposed that there are not good bosses 
and bad bosses. Just as I protest against the indiscriminate 
abuse of politicians, I oppose their indiscriminate defense. 
It is one thing to oppose a party because the men who control 
its policies may be unworthy of public confidence; it is an¬ 
other thing to oppose them because they have a “machine” 
and bosses, something that every party always has had and 
always will have. 

The significant thing to remember and the fact that must: 
be driven home with repeated emphasis, until it is com¬ 
prehended by the student, is that political parties with their 
machinery and their bosses are part of the necessary equip¬ 
ment of democracy. They are a means to an end, vis., the 
articulation of such public opinion as there is, into the accom¬ 
plished facts of government. Like all other instruments of 
government they may be abused. Like all other forms of 
organization, people may forget that it is a means to an end, 
and look upon the party and party success as an end in itself, 
regardless of the public weal. Whether or not these in¬ 
strumentalities render genuine service to the public, depends 
on the intelligent devotion and patriotism with which the 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


301 


public use them. Democracy will not operate itself. Its suc¬ 
cess will depend on the public opinion which it reflects. 
The most that can be said for democratic forms of govern¬ 
ment is that they reflect public opinion accurately. It does 
not make public opinion. It does not solve problems. It 
does not grapple with the reactionary forces that bar the 
pathways of progress. Back of all of these forms and in¬ 
strumentalities, therefore, there must be the intelligence 
and the sense of personal accountability, that can and will 
function through them, that will fight triumphantly with the 
forces of reaction, and find a just and righteous solution for 
the public problems. 

Several years ago I was invited into a western state to 
speak before a large civic body, organized in the interests 
of political and social reform. Upon reaching my destina¬ 
tion I was met by a committee, who made it very clear to 
me that what they most desired of me was a ringing de¬ 
nunciation of the state boss of the dominant party, and a; 
savage attack upon the mayor of the city, to which per¬ 
sonages these good people had attributed all the failures 
and evils of their state and local governments, respectively. 
I had to inform them that such was not my business. I 
called their attention to the fact that the mayor was already 
serving his third term as mayor of the city, having been 
three times elected by a plurality of the lawfully qualified 
electorate. It followed, therefore, that if he was such an 
outrageous character, that the persons against whom I 
should direct denunciation and scorn were the legally quali¬ 
fied electorate of the city. Moreover, the state boss whom 
they disliked, like all other state bosses, was absolutely 
harmless, except in so far as he could carry with him the 
people of the state. He had absolutely no power except in 
so far as he was able to get two-thirds of the members of 
his party convention, whose members had been elected by 


302 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


the party members of the state, to nominate candidates that 
he could influence or control. But even after that, he could 
accomplish nothing and possessed no power, until he had 
secured the election of these candidates by the lawfully 
qualified electorate of the state. If he had power which he 
had abused, it was because the people of his party had given 
it to him in the convention, and because the people of the 
state had approved it at the ballot box. In fact this same 
boss has frequently remarked that the source of his power 
was his ability to give the people what they desired. All of 
which shows the great fundamental truth, that the people 
get just the kind of government that their intelligent in¬ 
terest in civic matters deserves. 

Naturally the committee took exception to my position, 
which shoved a large portion of the blame upon the voters 
of the state and city, and robbed them of their cherished 
alibi. But as I pressed home the facts that a boss had no 
power over affairs of state except as he was able to influ¬ 
ence those whom the voters had placed in power, and had 
continued in power, they staked out another line of defense. 
They said that the majority of the people of the city did 
not want the kind of government that they were enjoying. 
When asked why they had reelected the mayor to office 
twice, if the people of the city did not desire him and his 
administration, they replied that the voters insisted on 
voting their party ticket, regardless of the local issues, 
while the forces who wanted the mayor, the determined or¬ 
ganized minority, switched from one party to another, and 
controlled the balance of power, between the parties, and 
thus controlled the politics of the city. Why, then, did 
not the good people of the city, organized into a determined 
organized majority, select capable political leaders, and elect 
their own officers of the city. The reason was that when 
they attempted to form such organizations, they would de- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


303 


velop factional fights, partisanship would creep in, and some 
would insist on allowing national and state political issues to 
dominate the local election, although there was no relation 
between the two. If the organization developed leaders of 
strength and power, many individuals would refuse them 
their support, because they were too much like political 
bosses whom they hated. When the majority agreed upon 
candidates and leaders, the minority, who were outvoted, 
frequently declined to follow the will of the majority, and 
their efforts came to naught. 

This was a typical situation. The people who were in¬ 
terested in a decent administration could not agree among 
themselves. If outvoted by their fellow citizens, they 
would quit. Some were too bigoted to adjust their will to 
those of the majority. Others were too jealous to acquiesce 
in allowing their leaders to have the necessary power to 
make an effective fight. Still others thought more of their 
party name than they did of their city. Underlying it all 
was the great outstanding fact that the good citizens of the 
city were not devoted to the public weal with the same 
fidelity, the same practical judgment, and the same willing¬ 
ness to fight and endure, that characterized the forces of 
evil. Pride of intellect, petty jealousies, a narrowly partisan 
spirit, and love of ease, too easily triumphed over their 
spirit of patriotism and their civic righteousness. Direct 
primaries, party reforms, the denunciation of bosses, by 
themselves, will accomplish nothing. Not until the forces of 
decency and civic pride will develop a machinery and a 
group of bosses as intelligent, determined and powerful as 
the opposition, can they hope for permanent reform. 

Civic training can not be practical or adequate without 
this understanding of the nature and necessity of party ma¬ 
chinery and party bosses. They are the indispensable in¬ 
strumentalities of popular control. The character of the 


304 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


service that they will perform is determined by the char¬ 
acter of the control that the public will apply. The remedy 
for the evils of party government is primarily and funda¬ 
mentally more intelligence and patriotism among party mem¬ 
bers. Party reforms of structural nature may be very valu¬ 
able. Legal regulation that will prevent certain well-known 
abuses will help materially. But the real problems of de¬ 
mocracy to-day are constructive, not negative. To eliminate 
abuses is wise and salutary, but the life of democracy de¬ 
mands much more. It demands the solution of modern 
problems. It demands machinery and public opinion that is 
not only honest but intelligent. It demands programs of 
governmental action that are not only well-meaning but 
masterful and effective. It demands not only an emotional 
response in the time of emergency and urgent need, but a 
sustained, aggressive and determined Americanism that will 
thrill with the stem joy of conflict in the deadly struggle 
with the foes of justice and humanity. 

With this understanding of the nature and functions of 
political parties, we are now ready to consider the relation 
of the citizen to the party. It is in this connection that we 
come to the most effective way in which the citizen is to 
make himself an effective factor in the processes of de¬ 
mocracy. In the preceding chapters we have tried to show 
the importance of governmental functions. We have at¬ 
tempted to show that their tremendous human implication, 
their tragic significance, and their dramatic appeals are suffi¬ 
ciently potent to arouse the emotional interest of the child 
in the efficiency of the government that performs those 
functions. We have tried to show how, through this method, 
the basis of a public opinion could be laid that would func¬ 
tion as patriotically and courageously behind these func¬ 
tions of peace as it has in behalf of the enterprises of war. 
But how will this public opinion find expression ? How will 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


305 


the individual be effective in the great struggle involving so 
many? In the early part of this chapter several methods 
have been suggested, but the most important one is through 
party membership and activity. 

If the parties are the instruments through which public 
opinion becomes effective, then it follows that it is there 
that the individual’s fullest opportunities are found. He 
should become a member of a party—not merely a passive 
member wearing the party label and accepting the party dic¬ 
tates, but an aggressive member, fighting the party’s battles, 
helping to do its thinking, laboring for better candidates, 
and contending for better principles. Those who are too 
broad-minded for political parties, and too good for prac¬ 
tical politics, are worse than valueless to a political democ¬ 
racy. It is true that no thinking and intelligent man will 
find any party whose principles exactly coincide with his. 
No man will find any list of party candidates who represent 
exactly his discriminating choice. Nor will any one find a 
church whose theology fits in entirely with his own, and yet 
churches are essential to the development of our religious 
life. Honest and intelligent compromise between conflicting 
points of view is the very genius of democracy, and those 
who can not become a factor in the compromising process, 
are too anarchistic to be effective members in the highly- 
organized society of to-day. 

There are many things in party politics that are disap¬ 
pointing and discouraging. There are many things of which 
high-minded individuals can not approve. There are many 
principles enunciated, that are not always sound, or are not 
honestly intended. There is excessive partisanship which 
forgets that the only justification of the political party is the 
service of the country, and which is tempted to sacrifice 
public welfare to partisan advantage. The more one knows 
of party politics, the more illustrations of these tendencies 


306 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


one is able to discover. But these are not the peculiar ills 
of political parties. These are not their exclusive posses¬ 
sions. These are the regular orthodox evils and frailties 
of human nature. They inhere in all things human. They 
find expression in every form of organized activity. The 
man who avoids his duty to political parties because of these 
evils is on the intellectual and moral par with the man who 
damns the church because of its human weaknesses, who 
“knocks” the efforts of civic organizations because their 
leaders are finite beings, who denounces the Red Cross be¬ 
cause the management of its affairs has been placed into 
human hands, and who opposes every other form of organ¬ 
ized progress because it is accompanied with some of the 
manifestation of human frailties. Such a person is looking 
for alibis from the duties of democracy, and is not in search 
of opportunities to serve. Or he may represent a certain 
phase of intellectual and moral snobbery that refuses to 
play a part, but with superb self-righteousness decries the 
efforts of those who do. 

The defects of political parties, for this reason, should 
not be concealed. Neither should they be emphasized. The 
school-room is the last place in the world for the activities 
of the professional “muck raker” or his followers. An an¬ 
alysis of the organization and functions of the party, and 
its relations to the business of popular government, if prop¬ 
erly presented from the evolutionary and functional point 
of view, will give to the average student a wholesome appre¬ 
ciation of the party system. The evils that exist are the 
same old evils of selfishness and greed, ignorance and in¬ 
difference, narrowness and bigotry that are not the products 
of the party system, but that merely find expression here 
as they do in the whole domain of human effort. As far as 
these evils exist, they will constitute a challenge to his man¬ 
hood and patriotism to offset their evil influence. If he 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


307 , 


has acquired a dynamic interest in government he will see 
in the avenues of party activity an opportunity to make that 
interest effective. If he has developed a vision of what de¬ 
mocracy should mean, he will find here the practical ma¬ 
chinery through which that vision is to be achieved. If he 
has learned the great truth that he is his brother’s keeper, 
it is here that he will find the chance to make good that 
obligation. If the educational process has developed in him 
the sentiment of dynamic Americanism, it is in the party 
struggle for higher ideals, nobler leaders and more efficient 
candidates, that this sentiment can become triumphant. 

This does not mean that the citizen will become a party 
slave. It does not mean that he will surrender his judg¬ 
ment and conscience to the keeping of others. It means 
merely the recognition of the vital, fundamental fact that 
no one dare deny, that the public can not vote for better 
candidates, loftier principles and nobler leaders than those 
submitted by party action. For all practical purposes their 
choice is limited within these narrow lines. It thereby be¬ 
comes the duty of every citizen to enter some political party, 
and there to consecrate his energy and his judgment in the 
efforts to make its platform, candidates and leaders the 
most efficient agencies for the public good that the people 
can achieve. It is through these efforts that personal in¬ 
terest in public welfare becomes effective. It is through 
these methods that the generous ardor of youth, the deep 
sense of personal accountability, and the intelligent under¬ 
standing of modern problems, so essential to democratic 
success, are to be translated into terms of practical accom¬ 
plishment. 

If it be objected that in spite of one’s best efforts, his 
party produces a program for popular approval which is 
inferior to that of its competitor, then as a loyal party mem¬ 
ber he is bound to vote for the inferior program, I must 


308 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


emphatically dissent. It is true that there has been at times 
a popular conception that one must vote the ticket of his 
party if he has participated in its councils, yet such a con¬ 
ception is not based upon a scientific premise. It ignores 
the fact that a party is but a means to an end. It gets the 
cart before the horse. There is no sound public reason why 
the nation should be sacrificed to party aggrandizement. It 
follows, therefore, that when one has fought the best fight 
of which he may be capable in the party primaries and con¬ 
ventions, and the parties have submitted their respective 
claims to popular approval, that then the conscientious citi¬ 
zen will enter the ballot box, not as a partisan, but as an 
American, and will give the voice of his approval to such 
candidates and to such parties as he believes will best serve 
the public interest. In this method, the contending parties 
will be continually competing for the public confidence and 
support, and in the interests of partisan success they will be 
compelled to do their utmost for the public good. 

As one considers the momentous problems of to-day and 
remembers that it is largely through the instrumentalities of 
party government that they must be solved, one may well 
wonder what the end will be. Out of the tragedy and sac¬ 
rifice of war, there has come a feeling of unrest and discon¬ 
tent. In the emergency of the great conflict, the government 
dared not hesitate to pay extravagant prices and permit 
enormous profits, if by so doing additional speed could be 
secured, for every day that could be saved meant the saving 
of human life. Prices and wages were fixed by govern¬ 
mental decree. Extraordinary powers of every kind were 
exercised on every hand. The result is that many ignorant 
people think that there is unlimited wealth which the 
public may distribute at its wish, if they can but get control 
of the government. They have a naive, superstitious confi- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


30? 


dence that the government can accomplish wonders if it only 
will. They are moved to ask for the impossible and to 
threaten revolt and violence if their demands should be re¬ 
fused. The great combinations of labor have been influ¬ 
enced by the radical and ignorant members in their midst, 
while some of the representatives of capital, forgetting the 
real significance of the struggle through which the nation 
has passed, and ignoring the basic fact that honest compro¬ 
mise is the basis of democratic achievement, have compli¬ 
cated the fundamental problem with their stubbornness and 
intolerance. The rapidly increasing cost of living and the 
suffering it brings but augments the forces of discontent. 
There are those who decry our institutions and clamor 
openly for revolt. 

Out of these conditions comes a definite challenge to the 
party leadership and achievement. The public must be edu¬ 
cated to the real nature of our economic problems. The 
laws governing collective bargaining must be developed 
so that exact justice may be done to either side. The condi¬ 
tions governing the distribution of wealth must be carefully 
considered, and made to correspond with our ideals of 
decency and justice. The laboring man and those depend¬ 
ent upon him must be safeguarded against the needless loss 
of life and limb. The arbitrary power of monopoly must 
be throttled. Profiteering must be effectively prohibited. 
The ideals of democracy, defended at such an infinite sacri¬ 
fice of blood and treasure against external foes, must be 
equally protected against the enemy from within. Will the 
people of America meet the challenge? Will they demand 
from their parties, their leaders and their candidates, the 
just and constructive solutions that wall endure? Will they 
seek refuge from the present ills in the horror, rapine and 
brutal impotence of revolution, or in the fearless facing of 


310 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


these conditions and in courageous efforts to provide rem¬ 
edies that are adequate and just? Upon this fundamental 
issue rests the destiny of America. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. What ways can you suggest to combat the idea that since each 
voter is only one among thousands, therefore he need not take his 
•duties seriously? 

2. Explain the practical evils that result when people respond to 
■a. campaign directed against the bosses. How can education prevent 
those evils ? 

3. What is the practical importance of the student learning that 
political parties are the indispensable instruments of democracy? 

4. How does the study of political parties present unusual oppor¬ 
tunities for the development of the efferent part of the psycho¬ 
physical disposition? Explain in detail. 

5. Outline a plan for teaching political parties, indicating the 
order in which the different matters would be treated, the details 
under each, the method of approach, and the objects sought to be 
accomplished. 

6. Can a man be an aggressive member of a political party with¬ 
out sacrificing his independence of thought and action? How? 

7. How would you lead the students to see the necessity of com¬ 
promise in an effective democracy? 

8. How can the truth about government and political parties, in 
certain instances, be taught without degenerating into muck raking 
and discouraging individual interest and initiative? 

9. How can you make clear the importance of political parties to 
your community? 

10. How can students be interested in membership in political 
parties without becoming viciously partisan ? Explain in detail. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Emery, Henry G, Politician, Party and People (Yale University 
Press, New Haven, Conn., 1913). 

Lowell, A. Lawrence, Public Opinion and Popular Government 
(Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1913). 

Part II, “The Functions of Parties.” 

Bryce, James, American Commonwealth (Macmillan Company, New 
York, 1907). 

Volume II, Part III, “The Party System.” 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


311 


Reed, Thomas Harrison, Form and Functions of American Govern¬ 
ment (World Book Company, Yonkers, N. Y., 1916). 

Part II, “Parties and Elections.” 

Kimball, Everett, The National Government of the United States 
(Ginn & Co., Boston, Mass., 1920). 

Chapter V, “Political Issues and Party History.” 

Chapter VI, “Party Organization.” 

Dealey, J. Q., The Development of the State (Silver, Burdett&Co., 
New York, 1909). 

Chapter III, “Rights and Political Parties.” 

Ostrogorski, M., Democracy and the Party System in the United 
States (Macmillan Company, New York, 1910). 

Ray, P. Orman, An Introduction to Political Parties and Practical 
Politics (Second Edition) (Scribner’s, New York, 1917). 

Jones, Chester L., Readings on Parties and Elections (Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1916). 

Hart, Albert B., Actual Government (Longmans, Green & Co., New 
York, 1908). 

Part II, “The Will of the People.” 

Munro, W. B., The Government of the United States (Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1919). 

Chapter XXII, “Political Parties in National Government. 

Their History and Functions.” 

Chapter XXIII, “Political Parties in National Government. 
Their Organization and Methods.” 

Young, James T., The New American Government and Its Work 
(Macmillan Company, New York, 1915). 

Chapter XXVI, “The Party.” 

Hall, Arnold Bennett, Practical Problems of Politics (Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1920). 

Where to write for further information: 

Proportional Representation League, Secretary, Haverford, Pa. 
National American Woman Suffrage Association, 505 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City. 

Secretary of State (For election laws). 

County Clerk (For sample ballots). 

State Central Committees and National Central Committees of 
the different political parties for campaign literature. 


CHAPTER XII 


THE BULWARK OF DEMOCRACY 

y4S OBSERVED in the preceding chapter, there has 
income out of the sorrow and suffering of war, a dan¬ 
gerous spirit of unrest. Weakened by the strain and stress 
of the great conflict, oppressed with the feeling of in¬ 
justice and impotence, misguided by the wild impossible 
promises of the revolutionary, there has developed a spirit 
of radicalism that seems to menace our institutions. Mo¬ 
tivated by fear of these forces, our government has resorted 
to the deportation of offending aliens who plot against our 
government. Other methods of repression are being advo¬ 
cated and occasionally employed. There is danger in these 
methods of defense. Nothing worse could happen than for 
the public to rely entirely upon such means of protection. 
For they are negative remedies at best, and, moreover, are 
inconsistent with our traditional ideals of political liberty. 
They remove those whom the contagion has affected, but 
are powerless to prevent its spread. They may perhaps 
serve well in a great emergency, but they offer no adequate 
protection for the future. 

Such measures will be doubly harmful if they give us 2 . 
false sense of security or blind us to the constructive reme¬ 
dies that are at hand. If the contagion is to be arrested in 
its spread, and prevented in the future, it can only be ac¬ 
complished by the innoculation of the public with the fun¬ 
damental concepts of liberty and democracy. If revolution¬ 
ary radicalism threatens our peace and safety to-day, it is 
because our institutions and ideals have not been adequately 
312 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


313 


understood and loved by those who compose the public. 
In the life of popular government all is necessarily staked 
upon the nature of the public opinion that functions through 
it. If that public opinion is not grounded in a fundamental 
comprehension and appreciation of the ideals, theories and 
principles of democracy, its foundations are shaky and in¬ 
secure. It may endure through the ordinary vicissitudes of 
national development, but, subject it to the stress and strain 
of a great war, when intellects and judgments are blinded 
by prejudice, fear and passion, and dissolution is imminent. 
In such emergencies the only effective bulwark of democ¬ 
racy is a virile sentiment of dynamic Americanism, directed 
and controlled by a public opinion that is intelligent, coura¬ 
geous and sincere. Moreover, such opinion must be 
grounded in the deep and abiding conviction of the sound¬ 
ness and justice of American ideals. 

In these days of stress, the situation is complicated by 
the existence of many evils and unsolved problems that, in 
times of peace and plenty, seemed to the superficial to be in¬ 
nocent enough, but which are greatly accentuated by the evil 
circumstances of to-day, and afford to the unthinking and 
the reckless, a plausible basis for their futile policy of revolt. 
Our laxity in dealing with the problems presented by the 
conflicts between capital and labor, affords an excellent 
example. Most of the suffering and privation that this 
conflict has caused to the nation might have been prevented, 
had we struggled with the problems as they first appeared, 
seeking to do justice to both sides, and avoiding the fatal 
policy of drift and indifference, which has generally con¬ 
tinued until the controversy has reached the dimensions of 
a national tragedy. 

A spirit of constructive patriotism would have attacked 
these problems as they developed, and thus avoided many of 
the aggravating factors in the present conditions of unrest. 


314 


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Moreover, such a patriotic sentiment, accompanied by an in¬ 
telligent public opinion, devoted to the ideals and purposes 
of our democracy, would make America a most uninviting 
field for revolutionary propaganda. Entrenched behind such 
defenses, our institutions would have little to fear from the 
hostilities of the enemies within our gates. But with vital 
problems left unsolved, with the horrors of unemployment 
undisturbed, with profiteering apparently unrestrained, with 
the lamentable housing conditions that exist in many cities, 
and with our public opinion uninformed and unconvinced 
regarding the nature and genius of our institutions, we pro¬ 
vide alluring possibilities for those who would plot our ruin. 

I am not one of those who believes our institutions are in 
immediate peril. But while our national existence is not en¬ 
dangered, our domestic peace and prosperity are threatened, 
and the efficiency and justice of our democracy are impaired. 
In such a period of unrest, public opinion can not operate 
efficiently and justly upon the problems of the day. Fear, 
hatred and jealousy jeopardize the spirit of national unity, 
bias the popular judgment, and add new points of friction. 
It becomes imperative, therefore, in the interest of a more 
efficient democracy, to eliminate these basic ills. 

The first step must be the prompt solution of our pub¬ 
lic problems, as rapidly as they occur. The public must 
be trained to apply to these problems the basic ideals of 
our democracy and to demand from our government the 
translation of these ideals into the accomplished facts of 
constructive statesmanship. We can not afiford to ignore 
industrial problems that form the basis of domestic conflicts, 
until it is forced upon public attention by the tragedy of 
industrial paralysis. If an injustice is being done to labor, 
or the legitimate rights of the employer are being menaced, 
the public must be trained to respond immediately, and to 
demand the correction of the evil. Moreover, our public 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


315 


officers must be made to feel that back of them lies a virile, 
determined public opinion that opposes the rule of arbitrary 
might in industrial conflict, whether wielded by capital or by 
labor, but insists that, like other domestic controversies, they 
must be solved by the rule of law, articulating the basic 
principles of industrial justice, and enforced with courage 
and impartiality. This will not be an easy task to essay. It 
can not be done at once. It will require years of study, ex¬ 
perimentation and development. But it never will be done 
until demanded by a dynamic, intelligent and sustained opin¬ 
ion of the public. 

What is true here is true of the other problems that are 
calling for attention, but which we need not here enumerate. 
This means, in the last analysis, that domestic peace and 
tranquillity can be adequately assured only when there can 
be created a dominant sentiment of constructive patriotism 
to insure the just and prompt solution of domestic problems. 
In the preceding chapters I have tried to indicate how this 
sentiment can be created. We have seen how the sentiment 
of military patriotism has been developed, and what it has 
meant to the nation in its conflict with foreign foes. We 
have seen how the study of the community, the state and 
the nation can have a dramatic and impelling appeal to the 
social instincts of the normal boy and girl, if we will only 
teach these subjects as they are, with all their tragic setting 
and their vital, human significance. We have seen how, 
by opening up new afferent inlets into their instinctive 
dispositions, the bare skeleton of our social and political 
organization became clothed in the flesh and blood of human 
interest. Likewise, by training the efferent part of the 
psycho-physical disposition until the felt impulse to action, 
arising from the stimulation of the instinct, is directed into 
useful channels of civic action, we have seen how one may 
soon learn to refresh his spiritual and altruistic self with 


316 


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the thrill of joy that comes from noble service splendidly 
performed, and to seek his happiness in its further quest. 

By pursuing these methods throughout the school curric¬ 
ulum, until the receiving of stimuli through the new af¬ 
ferent inlets and the exercise of the resulting felt impulse 
to action in an intelligent and effective way, have become 
habitual, there is crystallized a sentiment of dynamic Amer¬ 
icanism that will insure a quick and virile response to pub¬ 
lic need. 

This splendid sentiment, with all the emotional power of 
youth to give it force, can be safeguarded against ignorant 
abuse, and intelligently directed toward effective and use¬ 
ful remedies, by training the intellectual habits of the pupil, 
inculcating a love of truth, an evolutionary point of view to¬ 
ward the problems of life, and by developing the instinct of 
curiosity until an aggressive, critical and analytical attitude 
toward public problems becomes habitual. It has been the 
purpose of this volume to suggest helpful methods by which 
all this could be accomplished, and to demonstrate its neces¬ 
sity as the basis of an intelligent, virile and altruistic public 
opinion, without which democracy can not endure. 

The creation of this sentiment and the development of the 
emotional and intellectual resources of the child is not 
enough. As a by-product of this training, there should be 
developed certain basic convictions regarding the funda¬ 
mentals of democracy. The experience of democratic ex¬ 
periments and the dictates of common sense, indicate that 
there are a few basic principles of democracy that are appar¬ 
ently essential to its success. These should be so thoroughly 
grounded in the thought and life of the child that he will 
not be tempted to depart from them except after the most 
careful scrutiny, and upon the clearest evidence. Two dan¬ 
gers arise at this point, which we must be careful to avoid. 
One is confusing individual opinion over controversial mat- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


317 


ters and details with fundamental principles. There are 
very few of the latter and to assume that one’s opinions 
are fundamental and amply vindicated by the experiences 
of the race, without the most painstaking study, reflection 
and analysis, is errant bigotry of the most pernicious type. 

The other danger is the tendency to dogmatize. The more 
obvious and axiomatic a principle seems to be, and there¬ 
fore the more teachable it is, the less we tend to teach, and 
the more we tend to dogmatize. We do not need a public 
opinion based upon blindly accepted dogmas. What we 
need is a passionate devotion to vital principle, as an effect¬ 
ive means to a worthy end, and based upon an adequate 
estimate of its inherent worth. The latter is a result of ed¬ 
ucation, the former a product of dogmatism. In the latter 
inhere all the evils of bigotry and the static mind; in the 
former, we have the strength that comes from character 
and conviction. 

By many it will be argued that the teaching of these prin¬ 
ciples is unnecessary, if not vicious. We are told that if 
these principles are sound that the public will learn them 
from experience, and if not sound, that they will be misled. 
But why condemn each decade and generation to the same 
pitfalls and mistakes, in order that they may learn in the 
school of experience what might be better taught in the 
formal process of education. In commerce we seek to gen¬ 
eralize so accurately upon the experience of the past that we 
can teach the business man of to-morrow to avoid the pitfalls 
of yesterday. Medical education seeks to save the physician 
and his patients of the future from the vital mistakes of the 
past. If we insist that medicine and business should profit 
by the experience of the race, why deny the same boon to 
the struggling democracies of the world? If it be argued 
that democracy learns only by experience, it may be an¬ 
swered that the same is true of business, medicine and sci- 


318 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


ence. But that does not mean that the student of medicine 
must rediscover for himself, through the wasteful and 
tedious methods of unguided accident and experience, the 
theories of pathology and the facts of bacteriology. Nor 
should it mean that each generation, under the stress and 
strain of its peculiar problems, should rediscover through 
accident and experiment, unguided by the experience of 
the race, the value of such concepts as religious liberty or 
the freedom of the press. 

As this chapter is being written, the public press carries 
the news that five members of a state legislature have been 
expelled from the assembly because of their political beliefs. 
It is not alleged that there was fraud in their election, or 
that there was legal incapacity for office, but merely that 
they were Socialists. I hold no brief for socialism, but I 
do contend that such an action evidences a wanton disregard 
of the spirit of toleration and the principles of political lib¬ 
erty. How much better it would have been had these legis¬ 
lators learned in their youth, from the history of the past, 
something of the value of political liberty, than for them to 
rediscover it to-day, through this wanton breach of Amer¬ 
ican ideals! 

Among the basic principles that would seem to be essen¬ 
tial to the life of a democracy, and which ought to be ex¬ 
plained and taught until their apparent worth to society 
makes them become a part of the child’s philosophy—a well- 
grounded conviction of his life—there are four that I desire 
here to discuss. They have all incidentally received more 
or less consideration in the preceding chapters, but I want 
to restate them here for the sake of special emphasis and 
orderly arrangement. The first principle to be discussed 
is the principle of national unity. No form of popular gov¬ 
ernment can succeed where the people are divided into 
groups of irreconcilables, neither being willing to accept a 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


319 


popular mandate, nor to effect an honest compromise. In 
such a state there can be no government by the consent of 
the governed, but only a government by force. It required 
four long years of civil war, with an immense sacrifice of 
blood and treasure, before America learned the value of 
this fundamental concept. Nor would the Civil War alone 
have accomplished this important end, had it not been fol¬ 
lowed by a frank acceptance of the results, and a growing 
spirit of mutual toleration and respect. It is for this rea¬ 
son that those who wave the “bloody shirt” and seek to cap¬ 
italize the waning prejudices of sectionalism, deserve only 
condemnation and contempt. Such appeals retard and en¬ 
danger the spirit of unity. 

The government in the southern states during the car¬ 
petbag rule is another excellent example. The whites 
were irreconcilable under the domination of the negro vote, 
which was finally overthrown by methods of questionable 
legality. Moreover, the governments of these states suffer 
to this day as a result of irreconcilable groups and the ab¬ 
sence of political unity. Austria-Hungary could never have 
established an enduring republic, because of the utter ab¬ 
sence of the spirit and ideals of national unity. The inabil¬ 
ity of the north and south of Ireland to agree upon funda¬ 
mental questions of domestic policy and of home rule, and 
the unwillingness of either side to compromise, or of the 
minority to accept the mandate of the majority, illustrates 
the paramount importance of a unity of national ideals. 
The French republic is continually weakened by the pres¬ 
ence, in its body politic, of a group of irreconcilable royal¬ 
ists, who decline to acquiesce in the will of the majority, on 
the question of democratic government. 

The strength of America in the recent war was largely the 
result of common devotion to the ideals our people believed 
to be involved. The strength of America in the future 


320 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


will likewise depend upon the unity of ideals and aspirations 
that will motivate our people. If we can train our citizens 
to the appreciation of the fundamental ideals of America, 
to avoid the spirit of intolerance and bigotry, and to ap¬ 
proach great problems in the spirit of honest compromise, 
we will be laying the foundations of national strength. The 
present industrial crisis, if allowed to develop in its bitter¬ 
ness and heat until our people become more interested in 
the triumph of their group than in the national ideals of jus¬ 
tice, will become a very real and immediate menace to the 
public peace. Against such possible contingencies we must 
train our youth to the value and importance of our na¬ 
tional ideals, in order that there may be developed a devo¬ 
tion to the public weal that will make impossible such a fun¬ 
damental clash between the classes. 

How well this can be accomplished will depend to some 
extent upon our ability to develop a broad spirit of tolera¬ 
tion. Should the majority fail to show a fair consideration 
for the legitimate rights of the minority, and proceed to 
their ruthless violation or disregard, it would not take long 
until national unity would disappear. For example, should 
the majority of the people, by constitutional amendment or 
otherwise, seek to deny the rights of religious liberty to the 
minority, or deny them legitimate freedom of discussion, it 
is inconceivable that the minority would peacefully and vol¬ 
untarily acquiesce. Innumerable examples might be cited 
in support of this same principle. National unity, there¬ 
fore, can only be achieved when the people are educated to 
the support of, and belief in, the same great fundamental 
principles of politics and justice, when they can view their 
conflicting interests in the spirit of democratic compromise, 
and when there is established as a national trait a broad and 
genuine spirit of toleration, and an absence of errant bigotry. 
The spirit of compromise is of the very essence of a sue- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


321 


cessful democracy and the spirit of toleration is essential to 
the growth of liberty and the enjoyment of freedom. 

The school can render no greater service to the public 
than in impregnating in the mind of the nation’s youth the 
vital importance of these matters. The opportunities for so 
doing are abundant. The life and efficiency of every organ¬ 
ized group, club, church, or community is dependent largely 
upon these factors for its success. Let two irreconcilable 
factions develop in a club, church or society, and its useful¬ 
ness for the time being is at an end. Let discord and bitter¬ 
ness enter the home, and its charm and utility are vitally im¬ 
paired. Nor is this all. These qualities are not only of 
great social value to the nation, but of great practical value 
to the individual. Upon the possession of these faculties 
depends one’s ability to get on with his fellow men, to win 
their confidence and respect, and to cooperate effectively 
with his associates. 

We have seen the importance of these faculties tragically 
illustrated in the practical politics of the nation. We have 
seen the determined, organized minority, representing the 
most sinister influences of the nation, winning victory after 
victory because they were agreed upon fundamentals; they 
knew the value of common effort, and they operated with 
essential unity. Their opponents lacked the unity, the team 
work and the capacity to cooperate. They needed to get 
down to fundamentals, to accept them as the basis of their 
unity, to be tolerant as to details. Until the forces of right¬ 
eousness can learn these elemental values the forces of wick¬ 
edness will prevail. 

The second principle to be discussed is the theory that or¬ 
derly development and evolution is the most efficient means 
of progress. This means an intelligent devotion to, and 
confidence in, law and order as opposed to illegal and revo- 
lutioorty methods. X do not mean a blind submission to 


322 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


established power, but the conscious spirit of self-restraint 
born of the conviction that lawful means will insure the 
largest measure of success. If this spirit of intelligent self- 
restraint and devotion to the principle of orderly develop¬ 
ment can become a basic conviction of our people, we will 
have erected a mighty barrier against the dangers of reck¬ 
lessness and revolt. 

In the preceding chapters the methods of teaching the 
value of law and order have been repeatedly discussed. 
Splendid opportunities are afforded in the study of all the 
departments of government, in the history of the commu¬ 
nity, and in the experiences of the home. When our public 
opinion is thoroughly impregnated with this idea and it has 
become a settled and firm conviction of our people, then an¬ 
other bulwark of democracy will have been achieved. 

The third principle in which public opinion should be 
deeply grounded until it has become a profound conviction 
of our people is the basic and sacred importance of lib¬ 
erty. In America an appeal for liberty and its proper ap¬ 
preciation may, at first, seem superfluous. In fact, it is 
doubtless the existence of this very feeling that is at fault. 
We all render lip service to the cause of liberty. We all re¬ 
spond with splendid patriotic thrills to its eloquent acclaim. 
We all assume that liberty is an established institution, and 
need not be studied or referred to except in recognition or 
in praise. We, in America, have come to take it all for 
granted and to forget the great price that has been paiq by 
those who have gone before. We forget that with every 
new generation, there arises new evils that menace its vital¬ 
ity. In the work of patriotic education incident to the great 
war it was at first difficult to get the public to see thr. s in 
that great struggle the issue of liberty was involved. Aey 
seemed to think that liberty and freedom in this enlightened 
age could no longer be imperiled. They seemed to hc a s for- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


323 


gotten that the struggle for liberty is an eternal one. They 
had forgotten that the aspiration for liberty has been the 
pillar of cloud by day and of light by night that has inspired 
the teeming millions of the world, through all the vicissi¬ 
tudes of their upward struggle. 

So accustomed were they to certain liberties that they 
never stopped to question the source from which they came 
or the means by which they were protected. The freedom 
and opportunity of the child of humble birth to acquire an 
education and to get into any field of business, political or 
professional endeavor, unfettered by limitations of caste, 
family or law, is so commonplace in America that they for¬ 
got that like opportunities were not enjoyed to the same ful¬ 
ness or extent in most of the great nations of the world. 
They likewise forgot that as the pressure of population be¬ 
comes greater, our economic life more differentiated, and the 
pioneer character of our civilization disappears, there will 
arise tendencies toward the economic stratification of so¬ 
ciety which silently, slowly and almost imperceptibly will 
curtail or threaten these liberties and opportunities that we 
now enjoy. 

The only adequate safeguard against such future ills is 
an alert and intelligent public opinion, thoroughly and eter¬ 
nally committed to the principles of liberty and motivated 
with a passionate devotion to their defense. This conception 
of the importance of liberty will not come automatically. It 
will not be created by occasional rhetoric or the celebration 
of national holidays. It will come only with the patient, 
careful and thorough instruction of the nation’s youth. This 
should be one of the central themes in all study of history 
and civics. There are few periods, epochs or subjects in 
these lines of study that will not afford opportunities of 
bringing home, in new and dramatic form, the marvelous 
importance of liberty, the incessant struggle that must al- 


324 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


ways go on in its behalf, and its basic importance to human 
welfare. The child must have this brought home to him 
time and time again, until it is no longer a mere formally 
accepted dogma of American politics, but a vital conviction 
of his life, an inherent part of his moral and intellectual 
equipment. 

Out of such a conception must come not only the right 
and duty to defend one’s liberties, but also the duty to re¬ 
spect the like liberties of others. It is a common mistake in 
democracies to dwell upon their rights and gently but surely 
to ignore their duties. There is not so much danger that our 
people will too easily acquiesce in the loss of liberties as that 
some of our people may forget to recognize and respect the 
liberty of others. Well-meaning reformers, in their eager¬ 
ness to remedy obvious evils, have been moved to the ad¬ 
vocacy of measures subversive of liberty, and savoring 
strongly of tyrannical control. A very distinguished stu¬ 
dent of the housing problem, in his anxiety to see that the 
housing statutes were rigidly enforced, proposed a system of 
state inspection in which public inspectors would have au¬ 
thority to enter and inspect the homes of those living in the 
tenements, at any hour of day or night. It was proposed 
that such inspection should be made frequently and at all 
hours of the twenty-four. Such a bureaucratic system of 
espionage, carried into the private life of the home, shows a 
lack of perspective and a dangerous willingness to violate a 
very fundamental principle of free government. I have only 
admiration for those who are giving their time and energy 
to dealing with the difficulties presented by the housing 
problems of our cities, but I insist that a due regard for the 
fundamental rights of democracy would find some other 
method of enforcement more consistent with a decent re¬ 
gard for individual liberty. 

In dealing with the colored race, and with alien residents. 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


325 


we have shown a disposition at times to resort to acts of 
tyranny and to outrage private rights in a brutal and sav¬ 
age way. In 1889 the council of a western city passed an 
ordinance creating a Chinese district and providing that all 
Chinese must, within sixty days, move their business and 
homes to the district specified, or away from the city and 
county, and providing punishment for those who failed to 
move within the allotted time. This act applied to over 
twenty thousand of the Chinese race, some of whom were 
American citizens, and some of whom had owned their 
homes and businesses for thirty to forty years. Under the 
terms of this ordinance these persons were compelled to 
leave these places within sixty days and to move to a desig¬ 
nated and restricted place, where they would be forced to 
pay whatever might be exacted of them by the real estate 
speculators who had them at their mercy. There was no 
alternative. It was not contended that these people were 
criminal, but only that they were of Chinese descent. The 
ordinance sounds more like a brutal decree of the Turkish 
government dealing with the helpless Armenians, than a mu¬ 
nicipal ordinance in a great democracy. Any city that could 
impose such an ordinance, or any public opinion that could 
view it with equanimity, has no real conviction as to the 
principles of liberty. Fortunately, we have a Constitution 
that prohibits such acts of majority tyranny, and under that 
Constitution the courts held the ordinance to be void. . But 
it was only the wisdom of the framers of the constitutional 
provision that saved the situation. 

Like ordinances have been passed dealing with the colored 
population, while other laws discriminating against them, 
both as to their personal and political rights, have been not 
infrequently invoked. The prevalence of terrorism and mob 
violence, in many cases involving members of the negro 
race, affords still other examples of where popular passion, 


326 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


face prejudice, or other factors have proved to be greater 
than our respect for law and our veneration for liberty. 
To deny to one accused of crime, the constitutional rights of 
a fair impartial trial by a jury of his peers, and to leave him 
to the mercies of an infuriated mob, is not only an act of 
savage barbarism, but the grossest violation of one’s most 
sacred right of life and liberty. And yet these things occur 
and they occur in almost every state in the Union. I do 
not wish to ignore the difficulties presented by the negro 
problem, nor do I wish to offer any suggestion for its solu¬ 
tion, but I do wish to submit that the violation of the plainest 
conceptions of liberty and constitutional government, not 
only affords no constructive solution to this intricate prob¬ 
lem, but that it does dull the popular ideas of liberty, and 
to that extent it jeopardizes the very foundations of our de¬ 
mocracy. The existence of these evils demonstrates the im¬ 
perative need of a clearer conception of the meaning of lib¬ 
erty, and a deeper devotion to its defense. 

The examples above indicated will afford striking illus¬ 
trations to the students of the present need of a devotion 
to liberty and the serious consequences of its loss. We need 
to think of liberty and freedom in the terms of modern life. 
yVe need to study it as a basic concept of efficient democ¬ 
racy. We need to vitalize it by applying it in the light of 
the realities of to-day. For only out of this process will 
come an adequate understanding of its importance and a 
sincere devotion to its ideal. 

In developing such a conviction as the common possession 
of our people, we are at the same time laying the foundation 
for a better spirit of national unity. As previously ob¬ 
served, the basis of such a spirit must be found in a com¬ 
mon devotion to common ideals that are fundamental and 
basic. Nothing can do this better than by making the cause 
of liberty and freedom, in a real and vital sense, the com- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


327 


mon cause of our nation. Its appeal to the imagination and 
the emotions is marvelous, while its predominant place in 
the nation’s history makes it peculiarly appropriate. More¬ 
over, it becomes an additional barrier against those forces 
of bigotry, prejudice and recklessness that occasionally 
threaten our domestic peace. The spirit of unity is not likely 
to suffer greatly unless complicated by some tyrannous vio¬ 
lation of the legitimate liberty of a minority. And that be¬ 
comes less likely to just the extent that a deep and abiding 
conviction of the essential importance of liberty permeates 
the body politic. 

Take for instance the difficult question of the freedom of 
speech. When the public becomes aroused as in times of 
war, it is too easy for the great majority, with the best of in¬ 
tentions, to destroy ruthlessly the rights of the minority. In 
times of stress and strain such as the present, there is an 
element in the country crying for the suppression of those 
who argue for revolution, and against our forms of govern¬ 
ment. , No greater mistake could be made than to rely upon 
such repression for the national safety. Our safety must 
rest in the sound judgment and the sane convictions of our 
people, and not in their silent but ignorant acquiescence. We 
must develop a form of government and a type of democ¬ 
racy that will flourish amidst the babel of revolutionary 
tongues or we are lost. Give to the minority their full 
freedom of expression, and the decisions of the majority be¬ 
come more safe, more intelligent, and more just, and the 
minority becomes more ready to acquiesce in the mandates 
of the majority. But deny to the minority the rights of free 
and fair discussion, and the rule of the majority becomes less 
generous, less well considered, and less intelligent, while the 
minority are driven to irreconcilable sullenness or revolt. 
Freedom of discussion is the best safety valve for the 
pent-up anger of minorities. 


328 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


A prominent student of German politics and government 
has recently observed that had the German people enjoyed 
but one liberty denied them, the great war and the wicked 
philosophy that prompted it never would have happened. 
That liberty was the liberty of discussion. He stated that 
there were thinkers in Germany who took a liberal attitude 
toward the question of imperialism, expansion and world 
affairs, but the moment one of them would secure a follow¬ 
ing, he was denied the medium of expression. The mo¬ 
ment the peace societies began to apply their theories to 
German politics, they met with effective opposition. The 
great majority of the people of Germany were educated in 
a system of public schools where the ideas taught were sub¬ 
ject to the most vigorous supervision, and the people trained 
to a philosophy of force and the doctrine of the superman, 
which made them the fit instruments of imperialistic ambi¬ 
tion. This, together with an absence of freedom of discus¬ 
sion, by which those who saw the mistake of their national 
philosophy might be prevented from converting others, made 
the ruling class the supreme arbiters over the destinies of 
their people. No more dramatic illustration of the evils 
resulting from the suppression of freedom of discussion 
could be desired. What we need in America is not the 
national unity that is “made in Germany,” through dog¬ 
matism dictated by autocratic power, but a sense of unity 
and strength that comes from a common conviction as to 
the value of liberty, a conviction that springs from the free 
life and thought of a virile and independent race. 

In opposing suppressive measures against those who ar¬ 
gue in favor of revolt, I do not wish to be misunderstood. 
I have no sympathy with those who would capitalize the ig¬ 
norance, the cupidity and the prejudice of the people and 
who seek to lead them through the perilous and barren 
wastes of revolution, in the search of a new regime existing 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


329 


only in the realms of their imagination. Whether such lead¬ 
ers are found among the soap-box orators or the parlor 
bolshevists of the intellectually elite, they deserve only con¬ 
demnation and distrust. But no free people can afford to 
rob them of their liberty of speech so long as it bears no 
direct relation to lawless violence. For a people that is care¬ 
less of violating liberty in one case will be more careless in 
the next. The security of our liberty, in the last analysis, is 
dependent on the firm convictions of our people. If that 
conviction be shaken, or its observance be ignored, our free¬ 
dom is insecure. 

The fourth great principle of democracy that ought to be 
inculcated in the minds of our people, is the theory of demo¬ 
cratic duty. As indicated in a preceding chapter, one of the 
worst evils of our democratic philosophy is that it is gen¬ 
erally expressed in terms of the rights of the individual. 
Accordingly, there has developed in connection with it, a 
negative rather than a positive theory of political ethics. 
So long as we avoid the positive invasion of the rights of 
the individual, our consciences tend to be calm and satis¬ 
fied. Through our indifference we may be denying life and 
health to thousands whom it is the mission of democracy to 
serve, but we never mind. Millions of our citizens have 
lived in contentment and ease with detailed knowledge of 
the evils of child labor and never raised a protesting hand. 
Millions are aware that every year scores of our citizens lose 
their lives through the lawlessness of mobs, and yet they 
scarcely rise to protest, although they alone can prevent 
these awful crimes. 

Our whole theory of democracy and government is at 
fault. We regard government and democracy as something 
separate and independent from ourselves, against which we 
can claim the most exacting rights, but to which we owe 
nothing save obedience and taxes. The facts are, that mod- 


330 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


ern government is nothing but a cooperative enterprise in 
which the people unite for the joint solution of those prob¬ 
lems which they can not solve alone. For every right 
there is a corresponding duty resting not only upon the 
government, but upon the people who function through the 
government, and whose cooperative enterprise it is. If a 
child has a right to normal childhood, education and phys¬ 
ical fitness for the duties and conflicts of life, then it be¬ 
comes the sacred duty of the people to see that their gov¬ 
ernment gives and protects such rights. If it be admitted 
that one has a right to be tried by due process of law before 
forfeiting his life as a penalty for an alleged offense, then 
it becomes the duty of the citizen to see that such basic 
rights are granted, and when indifferent citizens tolerate the 
rule of mobs, the mark of Cain belongs upon their brows. 
If one is entitled to a just and expeditious settlement of 
such disputes as arise in our courts of justice, then it be¬ 
comes the duty of the individual so to use his political power 
as to secure this worthy end. No one can admit the exist¬ 
ence of a right in a democratic nation, without accepting a 
corresponding duty regarding its fulfillment. That duty 
arises from the very nature of democracy, and yet it has not 
found an abiding place among the convictions of our people. 

The eagerness of the average voter to find illusive alibis 
for corruption and inefficiency in government, is abundant 
evidence of this fact. Corruption, ignorance in public office, 
terrible and costly inefficiency, the ravages of industrial dis¬ 
ease, the annual toll of the “white man’s plague”—these and 
countless other tragedies of to-day are witnessed by the 
public in a complacent ease which emphatically negatives 
any adequate sense of personal accountability or blame. 
Much of the preceding chapters has been devoted to analyz¬ 
ing these situations, and to suggesting means of bringing 
home, in the individual case, a sense of personal responsi- 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


331 


bility. From these and the many other illustrations that 
the study of our local and national life affords, this sense 
of personal blame must be driven home, time and time again, 
accompanied with an adequate explanation of the coopera¬ 
tive nature of democracy, until it becomes habitual, and, by 
continued repetition, is translated into the thought, the 
character and the convictions of the child. All of these il¬ 
lustrations will contain rich possibilities of appeal to in¬ 
stinctive and emotional life, and the response to these, when 
intelligently directed, will give to the child that generous joy 
and spiritual exaltation that comes to those who serve in a 
noble and worthy cause. With the development of this con¬ 
viction, the citizen is ethically equipped to play a worthy 
part in the life of our democracy. 

In a recent meeting of advanced university students, a 
spirited debate developed between the conservatives and 
the radicals regarding certain domestic policies and institu¬ 
tions. The radicals challenged every institution, every fun¬ 
damental principle of the Republic, and the very essentials 
of constitutional government itself. The conservatives came 
valiantly to the defense, but they were miserably defeated at 
every point in the argument. No sooner would one of them 
take a stand than he would find himself forced into an em¬ 
barrassing alternative or dilemma from which he seemed 
powerless to extricate himself. Subsequent experience 
showed that many converts had been won to the cause of 
radicalism, or had lost their confidence in the value of exist¬ 
ing institutions. This was not due to the fact that the 
radicals were always right. It was not due to the fact that 
the evidence and logic w^ere on their side. It was not due 
to the invincible character of their position which was fre¬ 
quently impossible, and occasionally absolutely negatived 
by the most obvious facts of history.. The difficulty was 
that the defenders of American institutions and ideals were 


332 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


not prepared for their defense. It was painfully evident 
that many of them had never before given a moment’s con¬ 
sideration to their basic implications. They had accepted 
them as correct. They had taken them as a matter of course. 
To them American ideals and principles did not represent 
deeply-rooted conviction, slowly crystallized through years 
of careful thought and study, but the lightly-accepted dog¬ 
mas of tradition or prejudice. They were not aware that 
back of them lay the accumulated experiences of the ages. 
They did not see in them the great principles of human 
progress that had been evolved through centuries of trial 
and error, of costly bloodshed, and of bitter conflict. 

Their opponents were clever, ingenious and remorseless. 
Thrilled with the joy of the iconoclast, stimulated by the 
spirit of adventure and discovery and unrestrained by the 
judgment of maturity or an adequate background of histori¬ 
cal knowledge, they found the paths of radicalism alluringly 
heroic and refreshingly new and virile. Of inquiring or 
contentious temperament, they found them intellectually 
interesting and forensically productive. Consequently they 
were prepared to defend their views and to win a victory 
by the intellectual default of their opponents. 

The illustration is typical. It explains the growth of rad¬ 
icalism among the intellectually inclined. It explains the great 
influences frequently wielded by the radicals who are so few 
in number. Its moral is clear. Radicalism is dangerous in a 
democracy only when the people are uninstructed in its 
basic theories and uncommitted to its ideals. Such seeds 
of discontent will come to fruitage only when cast upon soil 
prepared by ignorance and nurtured by justifiable discon¬ 
tent. But let the people be grounded in the fundamental 
theories of democracy, let them be drawn together in that 
spirit of national unity that comes from a community of 
convictions and ideals, let them be committed to the policy 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


333 


of self-restraint and orderly progress as the most effective 
method of achievement, let them worship at the shrine of 
liberty with sincerity and devotion, and finally, let them 
accept the doctrine of personal accountability for govern¬ 
mental performance, and the nation need fear but little. 

A distinguished citizen from England, in a recent address 
to an American audience, related the incident of a grave 
mistake made by the British prime minister in a recent 
emergency. It looked for a time as if the results would be 
disastrous. But with almost unerring instinct, the British 
people refused to follow their leader, popular and success¬ 
ful as he had been, in this particular affair, and the disaster 
was averted. They were so well grounded in their convic¬ 
tions, so deeply attached to certain basic ideals that when 
their leader, mistaken under the stress of the moment, went 
astray, they refused to follow. 

I believe it to be the mission of the schools and the ideal 
of Americanism, to create a public opinion so intelligent in 
its understanding of democracy, so deeply devoted to the 
ideals of America, and so firmly impregnated with the prin¬ 
ciples of liberty, that though we suffer from mistaken lead¬ 
ership, though we be attacked by foreign powers, though 
we be subjected to the strain of famine, pestilence or indus¬ 
trial panic, though we be fought by domestic foes, that 
America will emerge triumphant because of the justice, the 
courage, the ideals and the character of her people. It is 
in the possession of these national and basic traits that we 
will find the true bulwark of democracy. 

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS 

1. Explain the evils of suppressing the views of political minors 
ties, unless absolutely indispensable to the public safety. 

2. Explain the organic relation between a national conviction as 
to the value of liberty and the spirit of national unity. 


334 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


3. What additional instances of majority tyranny in the United 
States can you suggest? 

4. How can you lead the child to discover, in terms of his own 
experience, the importance of national unity? 

5. How can you lead the child to discover, in terms of his own 
experience, the value of liberty in modern life? 

6. How can you develop these fundamental convictions without at 
the same time developing bigotry? Distinguish between bigotry and 
conviction. 

7. How can you lead the student to discover, in terms of his own 
experience, the importance of a constructive theory of political 
ethics, and to recognize the duties as well as the rights of democ¬ 
racy? 

8. Most of us have accepted, as dogmas or prejudices, the basic 
ideals of democracy. How can we change these into convictions? 

9. What is the practical importance of changing them into con¬ 
victions ? 

10. Can there be a vital course in Americanism, separate and 
apart from the study of the life, the communities, the governments 
and the ideals of America? 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Dealey, J. Q., The Development of the State (Silver, Burdett & Co., 
New York, 1909). 

Chapter XV, “Modern Democracy.” 

McCall, S. W., The Liberty of Citizenship (Yale University Press, 
New Haven, 1915). 

Hall, Arnold Bennett, Practical Problems of Politics (Macmillan 
Company, New York, 1920). 

Chapters I to III. 

Lowell, A. Lawrence, Public Opinion and Popular Government 
(Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1913). 

Chapter I, “Public Opinion Must Be Public.” 

Chapter II, “Public Opinion Must Be Opinion.” 

Chapter III, “Conditions Essential for Public Opinion.” 

Root, Elihu, The Citizens’ Part in Government (Yale University 
Press, New Haven, Conn., 1916). 

Bryce, James, The Hindrances to Good Citizenship (Yale University 
Press, New Haven, Conn., 1910). 


DYNAMIC AMERICANISM 


335 


Cooley, C. H., Social Organisation (Scribner’s, New York, 1912). 

Chapter XII, “The Theory of Public Opinion.” 

Garner, J. W., Introduction to Political Science (American Book 
Company, New York, 1910). 

Chapter II, “The Nature of the State.” 

Chapter III, “Essential Element of the State.” 

Hall’s (Arnold B.) Fishback (W. P.) Elementary Law (Bobbs- 
Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Ind., 1915). 

Chapter V, “Social Utility of the Law.” 

Muir, Ramsay, Nationalism and Internationalism (Houghton, Mif¬ 
flin Company, Boston, Mass., 1917). 

Pages 13-37, “Law and Liberty.” 

Sloane, W. M., The Powers and Aims of Western Democracy 
(Scribner’s, New York, 1919). 

Pages 77-154, 275-322. 


THE END 
































































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